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US NBA stars stunned
by Greece in world basketball semi-final Hot-shooting Greece humbled a team of US National Basketball Association stars 101-95 Friday to reach the World Basketball Championship final, leaving the Americans to deal with another Greek tragedy. Two years after a disappointing bronze-medal finish at the Athens Olympics and four years after a shocking sixth at the worlds, elite NBA players are no closer to solving their top global rivals and reclaiming the basketball throne. "It's a horrible feeling," US forward Antawn Jamison said. "We didn't underestimate this team. We just simply didn't play as well as we had to." The European champions, led by 22 points from Vassilis Spanoulis, opened the second half with 10-for-10 shooting, a Greek streak that left US players in a 69-55 hole with 4:40 to play in the third quarter. They never recovered. "To lose a game is a shock to us," US scoring leader Carmelo Anthony said. "We came with the mentality to win the title. Unfortunately, Greece came out in the second half and they never looked back." Anthony scored 27 points to lead the Americans while Dwyane Wade added 19 and LeBron James contributed 17. Anthony scored six of his 13 first-half points in an 11-2 spurt that gave the US their biggest lead at 33-21 just 3:33 into the second quarter, but Greece responded with a 22-5 run and never trailed again. "It hurts. It can't be worse than today," US forward Chris Bosh said. The unbeaten Greeks play Sunday for the title against undefeated Spain, which edged 2004 Olympic champion Argentina 75-74 in the other semi-final. The Spaniards clinched their first medal in a global event since the 1984 Olympics while the Greeks secured their first-ever medal in global competition. "We have a medal, but we want gold," said Greece's Theodoros Papaloukas, the Euroleague Most Valuable Player of champion CSKA Moscow. The Americans, who had been unbeaten, will play Argentina on Saturday for third. "I don't want
to go home in fourth place," Bosh said. "I'll be welcomed home
with a sandwich." "It's a big day for us. Everybody said it's a dream it we beat USA," said Greek standout Dimos Dikoudis. The final buzzer touched off a joyous Greece celebration that ended with the entire Greek team dancing, arms draped around each other's shoulders, in a circle at center court. "That's the
beauty of sport. It's hard to believe for you but not for us. We were
sure we could make it because we have a high-quality team," Papaloukas
said. The Americans, coming off their worst shooting performance of the event in a quarter-final victory over Germany, hit only 20-of-34 from the free throw line and turned in their worst defensive showing. "We didn't do a great job on defense," US forward Shane Battier said. "You can't expect to win a world championship letting a team shoot the way they did. They were tough and they showed why they are European champions. "Give them credit. They play great basketball. They play like a champion plays. When they are executing that well they are a tough team to beat." The next chance the NBA elite will have to capture gold against the world's best will be at the 2008 Beijing Olympics - provided they can qualify from the 2007 Tournament of the Americas in Venezuela. "These guys are down. We're definitely disappointed," US forward Elton Brand said. "We have to keep working. We can't give up. It's a three-year commitment. It's a step. We'll go back to our country and do what we have to do. "We'll get better and improve and see these teams again as we go - 2008 is still our target. It's still our goal to prepare for the Olympics." Malista! |
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