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U.S. Men's Basketball Team Turns Defensive To Top Greece

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A Tribune wire report

Published: August 15, 2008

BEIJING - It's official now. This is not Japan and the 2006 World Championships, not to mention Athens and the 2004 Olympics.

This is Beijing and the 2008 Olympics, and the U.S. is back in men's basketball.

These Americans, who looked so lost two years ago at the World Championship in Japan, appear to have found their Olympic way in China.

Batting away balls or swatting shots on seemingly every possession late in the second quarter, the Americans broke open a close game and went on to a 92-69 victory against Greece on Thursday night to clinch a spot in the medal round.

"We played like we wanted to win. We played together," U.S. guard Dwyane Wade said. "We were very aware of their offensive sets, we were very aware of their personnel and we played like that. So we were kind of a step in front of what they wanted to do because we kind of knew everything already."

The Americans also were able to find the range on jump shots when the Greeks went to a zone defense to slow them down. Kobe Bryant, who entered the game shooting only 37 percent in the first two games, was 7-for-14 from the field and finished with 18 points.
Chris Bosh also had 18 points, Wade added 17 and LeBron James had 13 for the United States (3-0), which moves on to a matchup of Group B unbeatens Saturday night against world champion Spain. The winner will earn the group's top seed for the quarterfinals.

Greece stunned the Americans two years ago in the semifinals of the 2006 world championships, shredding the U.S. defense for 63 percent shooting with clinical execution of its pick-and-roll offense in a 101-95 victory.

This time, the Greeks hit only 41.3 percent (26-for-63) from the field and only 4-for-18, 22 percent, from 3-point range as the Americans used a suffocating defense to extend a seven-point lead to a 19-point cushion in the final 5 1/2 minutes of the first half.

"Any time you get beat it's embarrassing and that's enough," Bosh said. "And we can really use that as a tool to help us with our defense now, and that's the name of the game. Because if you play good defense, no matter how you're shooting the ball you're going to be in the game."

BASEBALL: The U.S. team (1-1) beat the Netherlands 7-0 in a game halted by rain in the bottom of the ninth. Steven Strasburg took a no-hitter into the seventh. Former University of Florida standout Matt LaPorta and Matt Brown homered for the U.S., which faces Cuba today.

FENCING: In the women's team sabre competition, the heavily favored U.S., which had swept the medals in the individual competition earlier, had to settle for bronze, defeating France 45-38. In the semifinals, the Americans lost to Ukraine, which met China in the gold-medal match.

JUDO: Aslanbek Khushtov has won Russia's third Greco-Roman wrestling gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, turning throws in each of the two periods into a decisive victory over Mirko Englich of Germany at 96 kilograms.

The bronzes were won by Adam Wheeler, the only one of the six Americans to win a Greco medal, and Asset Mambetov of Kazakhstan. Wheeler's medal prevented the U.S. Greco team from being shut out in the Olympics for the first time since 1988.

SAILING: All was canceled due to lack of wind and low visibility, forcing the starts to be moved to today, when stronger winds are predicted, organizers said.

Even though the sailing venue of Qingdao, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Beijing, is notorious among sailors for its light summer winds and fog, Thursday was the first full day of racing lost due to wind conditions.

SHOOTING: Kim Rhode of the U.S. won a silver medal in women's skeet shooting. Rhode lost in a shoot-off to Chiara Cainero of Italy. Christine Brinker of Germany took the bronze.

Rhode won gold in double trap in 1996 and 2004, but that event was eliminated for women before the Beijing Games.

SOFTBALL: The U.S.-Canada softball game was stopped by rain in the top of the fourth, with the U.S. trailing 1-0. The game will resume today after the completion of the U.S.-Japan game.

TRACK & FIELD: Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay advanced out of their first heats in the 100-meter dash.

Gay, racing for the first time since hurting his left hamstring at U.S. Olympic trials, had no trouble winning his heat today, crossing the line in 10.22 seconds.

Bolt, the world record-holder from Jamaica who will also run in the 200, opened the day with a slow start but was able to coast to the finish and win his heat in an energy-saving 10.20.

His countryman, Powell, got off to a good start then jogged in to win his heat in 10.16.

All three raced later Friday in quarterfinals.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor defeated Belgium's Liesbet Van Breedam and Liesbeth Mouha, 24-22, 21-10, today to advance to the quarterfinals.

May-Treanor and Walsh, the defending Olympic champions, extended their winning steak to 105 matches. They trailed by as many as four points in the first set before rallying.

The No. 2 U.S. women's team of Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs also advanced, defeating Cuba's Dalixia Fernandez and Tamara Larrea 21-15, 21-13 in the round of 16.

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