USA Completes Pool Play Unbeaten
8/24/2006 12:24:59 PM | Men's Basketball
by USA Basketball
SAPPORO, Japan -- The USA (5-0) cruised to a 103-58 victory over winless Senegal (0-5) to close out World Championship preliminary play in impressive style.
The U.S. effort was led by Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors) who finished with 20 points, LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) added 17, Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets) scored 12 points and Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks) finished with 11. USA guard Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat) did not play in the game as the USA coach Mike Krzyzewski gave him the night off.
The U.S. now advances to the round of 16 as the World Championship field of teams is reduced from 24 to 16 with the fifth and sixth place finishers in each of the four preliminary groups eliminated.
Play in the World Championship round of 16 (Eighth-Finals) is set for Aug. 26 and 27 in Saitama, Japan. The USA will play Group C fourth place finisher Australia (2-3) on Sunday, Aug. 27.
The USA averaged 108.6 points a game and won its five preliminary round games by an average of 23.0 points a game.
"I think it is going to be a very competitive game," said James. "The Australians have a pretty good team. I haven't seen them play but we will be watching video. We did play against them in 2004 and they play hard. It will be good for us. A good test. It's good to get out of the first round and keep on taking care of business."
The round of 16 schedule will feature on Saturday, Aug. 26: Argentina (A1) versus New Zealand (B4); Turkey (C2) versus Slovenia (D3); Spain (B1) versus Serbia & Montenegro (A4) and Italy (D2) versus Lithuania (C3).
The second day of round of 16 action on Sunday, Aug. 27 features Greece (C1) versus China (D4); France (A2) versus Angola (B3); USA ( D1) versus Australia (C4) and Germany ( B2) versus Nigeria (A3).
"I thought we were really challenged (in pool play)," said USA and Duke University head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We played the first two games against teams that we had played before, so there was some familiarity. We weren't going to intimidate Puerto Rico or China because they had already played against us. That makes it more difficult for us, but it also makes it easier to get prepared.
"I think these guys are very unselfish. Certainly in the game against Italy, three guys stepped up big. Carmelo was sensational but so was Dwyane Wade and Elton's toughness and experience really benefited us, so everyone has been stepping forward. Whether it be LeBron, Shane, Chris Paul, Kirk Hinrich, Joe (Johnson)... the big guys."
Missing its first seven shots of the game, the U.S. closed out the first half by sinking 23 of its next 30 shots to quickly turn the game into a rout.
Missing its first seven shots of the game, the U.S. closed out the first half by sinking 23 of its next 30 shots to quickly turn the game into a rout.
Trailing 13-12, the U.S. went on a 19-0 scoring barrage that lasted until early into the second quarter and saw the USA grab control 31-13.
Holding a 38-22 lead with 4:47 to play in the first half, behind nine points from James the USA scored 15 straight points to open a 53-22 advantage. By halftime the U.S. had doubled Senegal points and led 58-24.
"I thought it was a great game," said Johnson. "We got out of the gates a little slow but we ended up picking up our intensity at both ends of the floor which resulted in us pushing the lead up a bit. It gave us some confidence. Made some easy plays and easy baskets."
In other Group D action Thursday, Wang Shipeng nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to propel China (2-3) past Slovenia (2-3) 78-77 and into the round of 16, while Puerto Rico (2-3) missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and fell 73-72 to Italy (4-1) and was eliminated from advancing to the round of 16.
In Thursday's Group A preliminary round play, Argentina (5-0) slipped past Serbia & Montenegro (2-3) 83-79, while Nigeria (2-3) pounded Lebanon (2-3) 95-72 and France (3-2) handled Venezuela (1-4) 81-61. In Group B Germany (4-1) fought off Angola (3-2) in triple overtime 108-103, New Zealand earned a 86-75 win over Panama and Spain remained perfect (5-0) with a one-sided 104-55 win over Japan (1-4). In Group C, Australia (2-3) claimed a dominating 93-46 win over Qatar (0-5), Lithuania (3-2) held off Brazil (1-4) 79-74 and Greece (5-0) defeated Turkey (4-1) 76-69 in a battle of unbeatens.
Winners of the Eighth-Finals games will advance to the quarterfinals, while losers will be eliminated from the competition. Winners of the quarterfinals games will advance to the medal round semifinals, while the quarterfinals losers will play in the consolation round semifinals and play out for fifth-eighth places. Winners of the medal round semifinals will advance to the gold medal game, while medal round semifinals losers will meet in the bronze medal game. All games from the Eighth-Finals to the Finals will be played on a one-game elimination basis for the gold medal. The games from the Eighth-Finals to the Finals will be played Aug. 26-Sept. 3 in Saitama City, Saitama, Japan.
"I'm going to have to explain that to all of our players," added Krzyzewski regarding the remainder of the tournament being more like an NCAA Tournament than the NBA Playoffs. "It's ‘one and done' and this is not a seven-game NBA series. We have to be ready for each ball game. The best way to get ready is to play defense at the start of each ball game. We've done a good job defensively. Hopefully, we'll pick that up even more, now that we're going on to Tokyo.
