World Championships games 08/20

[Ollie]

USA beat China 121-90
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Alwxtny4g570LLrayPrGrHm8vLYF?slug=ap-worlds-china-us&prov=ap&type=lgns

U.S. 121, China 90

U.S. 121, China 90
By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer
August 20, 2006

SAPPORO, Japan (AP) -- The United States hardly gave Yao Ming a chance.
Using a swarming defense and their huge advantage in depth to make life miserable for China and its All-Star center, the Americans rolled to a 121-90 victory Sunday night to remain unbeaten at the world championships.

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Dwyane Wade scored 26 points for the Americans, who needed less than four minutes to build their first double-digit lead and led by as many as 36. Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard had 16 points each, Chris Paul 13 and LeBron James 11.
The U.S. headed into Group D's off day with a 2-0 record, tied with Italy for first place. China (0-2) is tied with Senegal at the bottom. The top four teams in the six-team pool advance.
Yao led China with 21 points, but the Americans made him work for all of them. He had only one field goal in the first half, when the game was decided, and finished 5-of-8 from the field before fouling out with 6:08 remaining.
Yao didn't play in the Americans' 119-73 victory in this month's exhibition game at Guangzhou, China, because he was recovering from a broken left foot. His return in time for this tournament gave plenty of hope to the Chinese, who had a large contingent of fans at the game waving flags and holding large pictures of Yao.
The 7-foot-5 center predicted China would advance out of pool play -- he was quoted in a story in the China Daily before the tournament as saying, "China will enter the last 16, I promise." Then he scored 30 points in China's opening loss to Italy.
But the U.S. never let him be a factor when the game was still in doubt, delivering a couple of hard fouls when he had a clear path to the basket and even playing two centers together at times. Still not fully fit, Yao didn't even make it across midcourt at times after Chinese turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Americans displayed the balance that makes them one of the tournament favorites, with coach Mike Krzyzewski using all 12 players in the first half.
Leading by 14 points midway through the second quarter, the Americans used a 12-0 run to break open the game and build a 54-28 lead.
Wade then scored the Americans' final 11 points of the half, including a drive just before the buzzer that gave the U.S. a 63-38 lead. China had more turnovers (12) than baskets (11) in the first 20 minutes.
Yao hit a jumper to open the third and Wang Shipeng scored the next eight points as the Chinese pulled within 63-48, but James scored seven points during a 10-3 surge that pushed the lead back to 22, and the Americans were never threatened again. The United States improved to 5-0 in world championships play against China, the Asian champion. Wang added 17 points for China.

France beats Serbia-Montenegro 65-61
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-worlds-france-serbiaandmontenegro&prov=ap&type=lgns

France 65, Serbia and Montenegro 61
By JIM ARMSTRONG, AP Sports Writer
August 20, 2006

SENDAI, Japan (AP) -- Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns made four free throws in the final six seconds to send France past Serbia and Montenegro 65-61 Sunday night, the second loss for the defending champions at the world championships.
Diaw sealed the outcome with four seconds left after Igor Rakocevic missed a free throw that would have pulled the 2002 champions within a point.
Diaw led France with 20 points and was 8-for-10 from the foul line. At last year's European championships, Diaw went 0-for-11 from the line against Slovenia.
"I'm usually pretty good from the free throw line," Diaw said. "Some nights you make the shots and some nights you don't, but you've still got to get the job done."
Rakocevic, who played one season for the Minnesota Timberwolves, led Serbia and Montenegro with 22 points.
Playing again without injured guard Tony Parker, France took a 48-44 lead after the third quarter of a physical, defensive game. Parker broke his right index finger in a tuneup game against Brazil in China last week and pulled out of the tournament on Friday.
France (1-1) lost to Argentina on Saturday and has now played two of the toughest teams in Group A. Serbia and Montenegro (0-2) lost its opener to Nigeria and still must face Argentina.
Serbia and Montenegro won the 2002 world title at Indianapolis while competing as Yugoslavia. However, it made this tournament only as a wild card. Now it is an aging team and some of its NBA players -- Nenad Krstic of New Jersey and Aleksandar Pavlovic of Cleveland -- are not playing.
"We played with enough heart to win," Serbia and Montenegro coach Dragan Sakota said. "At the end of the game if you miss the free throws and the other team makes them this is what happens. Our goal still is to make it to the next round and we feel we can do that." Diaw gave France a 48-44 lead after three quarters with a reverse layup. The score was 30-30 at halftime. "We were ready for them," Diaw said. "We knew they were a good team and what carried us tonight was our teamwork and physical play."

Diaw stats line : 20 pts, 8 rbds, 3 assists. Pretty good game for him. And clutch from the free throw line during the last minute (7/8).

Brazil beats Qatar 97-66
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-worlds-brazil-qatar&prov=ap&type=lgns

Brazil 97, Qatar 66

Brazil 97, Qatar 66August 20, 2006

HAMAMATSU, Japan (AP) -- Center Tiago Splitter scored 18 points Sunday and Brazil cruised to a 97-66 victory over Qatar at the FIBA world championships.
Brazil (1-1), which lost to Australia 83-77 on Saturday, put on a 14-4 scoring spurt early in the opening quarter en route to a 51-29 halftime lead at Hamamatsu Arena.

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Qatar (0-2), making its first appearance at the worlds, lost 84-64 to European champion Greece on Saturday. A day later, the Middle Eastern side found itself under constant pressure by a relentless Brazilian defense. Brazil's two NBA stars, Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns and Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers helped Brazil control the play in the first half and were used sparingly after the break. Barbosa, still nursing an injured hand, finished with six points and Varejao, who suffered a foot injury before the championships, added 13. Mosa Daoud was Qatar's top scorer with 16 points.

Barbosa 6pts, 3 rebds, 3 assists.