United States move to semi-final showdown with Greece

SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) - Greece will battle the United States for the right to play in the gold medal game at the FIBA World Championship after claiming big wins on Wednesday.

Five players scored in double figures as Greece hammered France 73-56 in the day's first quarter-final at the Saitama Super Arena.

Team USA then used a 16-2 third-quarter run to put away Germany 85-65, holding Dirk Nowitzki to 15 points on three of 12 shooting.

The Greece-United States winner will play in Sunday's final against either Argentina or Spain.

Germany play against France on Thursday in the classification round while Turkey take on Lithuania.

Antonis Fotsis and Lazaros Papadopoulos each scored 14 points to lead Greece over France but the all-round game of Dimitris Diamantidis was more damaging to Les Bleus.

The Panathinaikos star collected 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists and played his usual stellar defense.

Greece center Sofoklis Schortsanitis also came off the bench and had another impressive night with 10 points.

Mickael Gelabale was the only French player to score in double digits with 12 points, while captain Boris Diaw was held to nine points, 3.8 below his average coming into the game.

The French were hoping to avenge their loss at the hands of Greece in the semi-finals of last year's EuroBasket when Diamantidis' three-ball in the closing seconds lifted them to victory. Greece went on to beat Germany in the gold medal game. 

One player who was not with Greece in Belgrade was Schortsanitis, whose brute force in the low post has added a new dimension to the Greek team.

His play helped change the game in the second quarter as he got France's inside players into foul trouble, while Fotsis' five points helped open a 31-21 lead with 2:11 left in the first half. Greece went to the chaning room with a 34-24 lead.

Diamantidis gave Greece a 15-point advantage with a trey to make it 48-33.

The French trimmed the deficit to 48-40, but Vasilis Spanoulis' long jumper with eight minutes to go pushed the lead to 58-43.

France would not get closer the rest of the night.

The United States shot a woeful 25% from the arc (10 of 40) but still easily beat Germany 85-65. They out-rebounded the Europeans 48-34, with the Americans grabbing 22 of theirs off the offensive glass.

Team USA also forced the Germans into 24 turnovers.

Carmelo Anthony led the way with 19 points on seven of 19 shooting from the floor. LeBron James (13), Joe Johnson (11) and Chris Bosh (10) all scored in double digits.

Team USA, shut out of the medals in Indianapolis in 2002, led by one point at half-time but they increased the defensive intensity forced Germany into six turnovers in the first three-and-half minutes in a 16-2 spurt to open a 60-45 lead with 1:53 left in the third.

Ademola Okulaja, like Nowitzki, tallied 15 points for Germany but nobody else scored in double figures.

By David Hein
FIBA