<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>U.S. beats Germany with DSAITAMA, Japan -- The Americans weren't going to win this game with their shooting. So they made sure they didn't need to.Carmelo Anthony scored 10 of his 19 points in the third quarter, when the United States finally took control with its pressure defense, and the Americans went on to beat Germany 85-65 Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Championship.LeBron James added 13 points for the U.S., which broke away from a one-point halftime lead by using a flurry of steals and blocks to outscore Germany 16-2 over a nearly 6-minute span in the third period.The Americans (7-0) remained one of the four unbeaten teams and advanced to face European champion Greece (7-0) Friday night in the semifinals. Greece beat France 73-56 earlier Wednesday.But this was unlike the other American victories in Japan.Instead of looking like the team that came in averaging 109.3 points, the Americans looked like the ones that have come up short in recent years because of a lack of perimeter shooting. They shot 37.6 percent (32-of-85) and were 10-of-40 from 3-point range.But they kept it from being costly by pressuring Germany's guards and preventing them from getting the ball to superstar Dirk Nowitzki, who finished 3-of-12 with five turnovers.Nowitzki and Ademola Okulaja each scored 15 points for Germany, the bronze medalist in the 2002 worlds. The Germans (5-2) will face France in a classification-round game on Thursday night and can still finish fifth.Leading 40-39 at the break, the U.S. came out of the break with a new lineup -- Anthony, James, Joe Johnson, Kirk Hinrich and Dwight Howard -- and forced three turnovers in the first 1:01 of the third quarter.The Germans were still within a point before Anthony followed a 3-pointer with a steal a dunk. Elton Brand's follow shot made it 51-43 with 6:41 remaining in the period.Okulaja made a jumper, but Anthony drilled another 3, Dwyane Wade made a free throw, Johnson had a basket and Chris Bosh converted a three-point play on an alley-oop that extended the Americans' lead to 60-45 with 1:53 left in the quarter.The U.S. had five blocked shots and seven steals in the quarter, taking a 67-52 lead on Chris Paul's jumper as the buzzer sounded.Sitting back in a zone that featured Nowitzki, fellow 7-footer Patrick Femerling and 6-8 Okulaja along the back line, Germany forced the U.S. to shoot from the outside. And unlike Sunday's rout of Australia, when the Americans were 14-of-27 from 3-point range, they were woeful behind the arc Wednesday.The Americans were 5-of-20 in the first half, including one miss when Wade appeared to try to bank one in and it missed the rim entirely -- and that was while he could still see straight.Wade went to the bench a few minutes later after taking a shot to the eye from Pascal Roller while going for a loose ball. He sat the remainder of the half and returned 4? minutes into the third quarter -- and promptly threw up an airball on his first shot attempt.But Germany could never take much of a lead because of foul trouble. Both Nowitzki and Okulaja were on the bench in the final minute with three apiece, and the U.S. took a 40-39 lead when Anthony made a 3-pointer with 47 seconds to go.That was one of the few highlights in the first half for Anthony, who missed his first eight shots and was 2-of-12. Wade -- who came in combining with Anthony for nearly 40 points per game -- was 1-for-7.Shane Battier started on Nowitzki, and James and Chris Bosh would get cracks at the Dallas Mavericks All-Star later in the period. All did a good job, forcing Nowitzki to miss his last five shots as the Americans took a 23-21 lead.Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press</div>Link
Their shooting was miserable but the 20 offensive rebounds really won this game for them. Carmelo just kept firing instead of deferring to his teammates. He needs to realize there are other options out there. I guess he is used to shooting a lot with the Nuggets team so he hasn't adjusted to having other options. Anyways good win for USA on using their athleticism to win.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (coyn3burglar @ Aug 30 2006, 02:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Was this already televised?</div>Yeah ESPN showed it at 6:30 Eastern Time.
I thought germany was lost in the second half. They werent taking good care of the ball. US did a good thing and took advantage of it and ended up with the win.
it seems like the US fast tempo gets the other teams tired out by the 4th quarter or somethng, there have been a few games where the other team was keeping up with the US in the first half but then end up being blown out by the end of the game.
Yeah, but team USA worries me a little bit...Germany isn't as good as a few of the other teams USA will face, and they put them in a bind by playing a good zone, like it'll be the only Team USA sees, but like said before, Germany was lost in the second half, but played tough for about 2 and a half quarters.
