USA Blows Lead, Loses to Greece
Team USA’s undefeated run came to an end Friday in a stunning 101-95 loss to Greece in the FIBA World Championship Semi-Finals.
The Greeks with no current NBA players on their roster, overcame a 12 point deficit on their way to their eighth victory of the tournament.
Greece’s Vassilis Spanoulis, scored 22 points while Mihalis Kakiouzis added 15 and Sofoklis Schortsianitis scored 14, shooting 6-of-7.
Carmello Anthony lead the way for the USA, but even his 27 points weren’t enough to pull out the victory.
Anthony shot a dismal 32% from 3-point range and only 59% from the foul line. Dwayne Wade added 19 points and Lebron James had 17.
The best the American’s can hope for after Friday’s loss is the Bronze Medal. The U.S. (7-1) will return to the court Saturday against the loser of the Argentina-Spain game. The Americans, who put together a national team program this year for the first time, now will be forced to qualify for the 2008 Olympics next summer in the FIBA Americas tournament in Venezuela.
Greece (8-0) can earn a world title with a victory over either Spain or Argentina in Sunday’s gold medal game. Those teams, also undefeated, met in Friday’s second game.
By: Marc Young – theSpread.com – Email Us
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