George O'Brien
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Dirk did not have a good game and Germany was almost upset by Nigeria. The only mild upset was Lithuania over Italy. Italy gave the USA team some trouble in the preliminary round and Lithuania is not viewed as being that strong.
27/08/2006
Game Report, USA vs Australia 113-73, EIGHT-FINALS
SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) - Team USA held Australia without a field goal for more than seven minutes in the second quarter to build a 30-point half-time lead and cruise into the last eight of the FIBA World Championship with a 113-73 win.
Carmelo Anthony had a game-high 20 points and Joe Johnson came off the bench to score 12 of his 18 in the first half as the United States took charge in the second period.
"We just picked up our energy in the second quarter," Johnson said. "We haven’t really got off to good starts these past few games but we came out in the second period, picked up our defensive intensity and started making easy plays and getting easy baskets."
Next up for Mike Kryzewski's men will be a quarter-final match up with Germany after Dirk Nowitzki and company held on for a 78-77 win over Nigeria in the first eight-final of the day.
"We started very well and in the second quarter turned on the defensive pressure and that decided the game for us," forward Shane Battier said afterwards. "This team really cares about basketball and playing the game the right way, with each other and not against each other. It's a really fun way to play. The guys are unselfish and we are having fun out there. We have a tough game against Germany coming up, but it's exciting to see the hunger our team has and how we still want to play better."
The USA opened the game on a pair of three-pointers by Battier and Anthony but Australia seemed capable to match them from long range, with CJ Bruton and Brad Newley also hitting from downtown.
Brian Goordjian's men took their only lead of the game, 15-14, on a three by center Andrew Bogut, who finished with 20 points.
The United States - who changed their line up very regularly in the first half - brought Dwyane Wade and Kirk Heinrich off the bench with three minutes left in the first period and the pair contributed immediately.
Heinrich hit a jumper before Wade made two lay ups but Newley added another three and a dunk as Australia stayed within striking distance, 27-23, after the first quarter.
The second quarter proved to be the turning point as the USA tightened their interior defense and forced their opponents to do their damage from the perimeter.
And the plan worked like a charm for Team USA as Australia had to wait until CJ Bruton hit a jumper with 2:50 left to play in the first half to get their first basket of the second quarter, by which stage the lead had ballooned to 20, 46-26.
Chris Paul found Wade for a reverse dunk as the Americans started scoring in style and Australia's deficit reached 30 at half-time, 59-29, as Johnson stole the ball and went in for a uncontested flush to cap off a personal 7-0 run at the end of the second quarter.
Bogut re-established an inside presence for Australia early in the third quarter, getting fouled and sent to the free-throw line where he converted his two shots before hitting a hook shot.
However Team USA were in complete control and a three-point barrage headed by Battier and Brad Miller late in the third period helped them increase the lead to 40, 88-48.
Australia opened the final period with an 8-0 run - capped off by Aaron Bruce's back-to-back lay ups - to bring the deficit back under 35 points, 88-57, before Chris Bosh responded for the USA.
Bosh made a three-pointer, a long jumper and a pair of free throws for a 101-62 lead and Paul and Johnson then closed out the game.
After the game Bogut conceded that the second quarter hurt Australia's chances of making a real game of it.
"We just turned the ball over too much. They didn't really shut us down. They forced us into turning the ball over and we didn't really get any shots while they were able to run and get some dunks. If you play the USA like we did in that quarter, you're going to lose," he said.
But the center is hopeful for the team's future.
"It's definitely something to build upon for Beijing. We have a young team, a lot of college kids playing against NBA guys. Hopefully we can get a core group out of this bunch f players for Beijing and move on."
Kryzewski turned his attention to the next game and expects a tough challenge.
"This was a big win for us, because we have a lot of respect for the Australian team. we'll make adjustments to the base of defense that we have ahead of the Germany game. We'll study them to be as ready as possible. We hope to keep everyone healthy, with the moral high and then we might make some small adjustments."
By Simon Wilkinson, FIBA
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Dirk did not have a good game and Germany was almost upset by Nigeria. The only mild upset was Lithuania over Italy. Italy gave the USA team some trouble in the preliminary round and Lithuania is not viewed as being that strong.
26/08/2006
Game Report, Lithuania vs Italy 71-68, EIGHT-FINALS
SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) – The free-throw shooting gods saved Lithuania on Saturday as Italy missed six in the final eight seconds to crash out of the FIBA World Championship.
The Italians, who reached the last 16 despite needing a wild card to play in the tournament, had a chance to reach the quarter-finals but self-destructed.
With 2.8 seconds remaining and the Baltic giants leading 71-68, Lithuania fouled Marco Belinelli so Italy could not attempt a potential game-tying three-pointer.
Belinelli missed both shots from the stripe, but team-mate Gianluca Basile grabbed the long rebound and attempted to launch an attempt from the arc before time expired and as he did, he was fouled by Arvydas Macijauskas, one of the most experienced players in the Lithuania team.
Macijauskas tried to put a hand in Basile’s face but made contact with him just 0.6 seconds from the end, giving the 20-year-old a chance to tie the game if he could make three shots from the charity stripe.
Basile, a member of Italy’s silver-medal winning side at the Olympics, was short on the first, however, and then missed the next two to preserve the three-point victory for Lithuania.
A stunned Italy coach Carlo Recalcati said immediately after: “We’ve got ourselves to blame.
“Today we have seen all our inexperience and hence, since our trip to Japan was supposed to give us experience, I hope my players will learn something from it.
“It proves that I wasn’t wrong when I said that this is an inexperienced side.
“We have thrown away so much. We have given away our crucial rebounds to our rivals.
“We have shot our free throws poorly and we have not taken advantage of the turnovers (by Lithuania).”
Indeed, after Belinelli could only make one of two from the line with eight seconds to play, Italy decided to foul Linas Kleiza after coming out of a timeout.
Kleiza missed the first, and the second but Italy failed to box out and Darius Songaila grabbed the rebound.
With Songaila having made all eight of his free throws to that point of the game, the Azzurri’s chances looked bleak.
But Songaila missed the first, and the second.
Yet again, Italy were unable to box out and this time it was very costly as Darius Lavrinovic reached in to tap the ball up and in for the 71-68 lead.
That set the stage for Belinelli and Basile and Italy suffered their painful exit.
Belinelli had some fine moments in this tournament, and he hit a big three with 2:05 to go against Lithuania to close the gap to 68-65.
But it was not to be for him or a young Italy, who two years ago won the silver medal.
Italy ended up shooting six of 19 (32%) from the line, far below their 48% (10 of 21) shooting from three-point range.
Before Saturday, Belinelli had made 14 of 16 (88%) from the line and the experienced Basile had hit eight of nine (89%).
“I don’t think Belinelli has had his best game of the tournament today,” Recalcati said.
Mason Rocca and Fabio Di Bella each had 15 points for the Italians, while Macijauskas scored 15 to lead Lithuania.
Italy had led by as many as five points in the first half but Lithuania went to the locker room with a 36-35 advantage with Lavrinovic leading them in a balanced scoring attack with seven points.
Mason Rocca, who played basketball at Princeton University and spent last season with Carpisa Napoli, had 13 after a series of excellent moves in the paint.
Lithuania finished 19 of 30 (63%) from the free throw line. They out-rebounded the Italians 40-35.
The Italians guarded them closely behind the arc, limiting them to four of 12 (33%) shooting. They were 24 of 42 (48%) inside the arc.
Lithuania looked as if they had taken command six minutes into the fourth quarter after reeling off six straight points for a 66-56 lead.
Macijauskas, a Lavrinovic three-point play and a Robertas Javtokas free throw accounted for the spurt.
But Marco Mordente made a four-point play after being fouled by Giedrus Gustas while attempting a shot from the arc, and Di Bella’s jump shot brought Italy back.
Ultimately, their poor free throw shooting and rebounding in difficult situations prevented them from advancing in the tournament.
Zukauskas wore a smile in the press conference after when asked about the missed free throws, and Macijauskas' foul on Basile.
"We tried to pay attention to their shooters and then they got points through their big guys," he said.
"And then they started hitting from the outside. We got lucky they missed some free throws.
"We should have won this game earlier, but I guess we wanted to make it better for the fans."
“I think Lithuania will have a very difficult quarter-final provided Spain beat Serbia & Montenegro," Recalcati said.
By Jeff Taylor
FIBA
