TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

American Men Dominate Germany In Basketball

ADVERTISEMENT

By BRIAN MAHONEY Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 19, 2008

BEIJING - The United States beat Germany 106-57 Monday in men's Olympic basketball, advancing to the medal round and a potential tough game against Australia.
Dwight Howard scored 22 points and LeBron James had 18, 16 in the first half, as the United States completed an undefeated march through pool play.

Dirk Nowitzki, the Dallas Mavericks all-star, scored 14 points for Germany (1-4), which completed a disappointing Olympics. The Germans looked like contenders in a 95-66 rout of Angola in their opener, but then dropped four straight.

The Americans, 5-0, led by only seven points midway through the fourth quarter of an 87-76 exhibition victory in Shanghai over Australia two weeks ago. And the Australians were playing without starting center Andrew Bogut of the Milwaukee Bucks, who was resting a sore right ankle.

American star Kobe Bryant is wary.

"We feel like we're playing very well right now, but you have to keep in mind it's single elimination," Bryant said. "You can't afford any slip-ups."

Vasileios Spanoulis and Ioannis Bourousis each scored 19 points to lead Greece to a 91-77 victory over China. Antonios Fotsis added 17 points for Greece (3-2).

Yao Ming, who didn't score a basket until late in the second quarter, led China (2-3) with 18 points.

The game completed the brackets for the medal rounds. The U.S., winner of Group B, would face the winner of Argentina-Greece in the semifinals if they beat Australia on Wednesday.

In the other bracket, Group A winner Lithuania meets China, and Spain faces Croatia, with the winners advancing to the semifinals.

Greece took the pro-China crowd out of the game with an 11-2 run early in the second quarter on its way to a 46-24 halftime lead. China hit a barrage of 3-pointers to pull within 10 points late in the third quarter, but the Greeks withstood the rally.

Australia beat Lithuania 106-75 and Argentina downed Russia 91-79 in other games.

Bogut, who led the Australians on Monday with 23 points, has one game plan to beat the Americans.

"Shoot 100 percent," he said.

Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola scored 37 points to lead defending Olympic champions Argentina past already eliminated Russia.

Chicago Bulls forward Andres Nocioni added 19 points while Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko led Russia with 23 points.

Russia battled hard to save pride, coming to within one point of their opponents in the fourth quarter.

With Argentine football great Diego Maradona looking on, however, Argentina held on to remain unbeaten for the tournament.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT