Basketball Capsules: U.S. pulls away in 2nd half to rout Tunisia 92-57

Outworked and outhustled, the Americans led winless Tunisia by only four points early in the third quarter before turning the game into a rout over the final 15 minutes of a 92-57 victory Thursday.

Eric Gordon scored 21 points for the U.S., which had already clinched first place in its group and was more interested in getting through this one healthy — which it didn't do — than earning any style points.

"It happens," center Lamar Odom said. "These teams are pumped up to play against us. You're not going to always blow a team out in the first three or four minutes of a game."

That's often what's expected of the powerful U.S., though.

"It's kind of like the Tour de France, except you have to win every stage," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "You have to look good in every stage."

The U.S. (5-0), seeded first in Group B, next plays on Monday against Angola, the No. 4 seed from Group A.

Reserve forward Rudy Gay sat out the second half with what was called a slightly pulled right groin. He is expected to be OK for the next game.

The Americans misfired on nine of 10 3-point attempts in the first half and failed to show any sustained stretches of good offense, an occasional problem for the team during the group stage. The Americans have time to clean it up, with three days off before playing their first elimination game.

"On these next few days, we have to get better," Krzyzewski said.

The U.S. opened with its three toughest opponents, then faced easy ones in Iran and Tunisia. Chauncey Billups, who earned the nickname "Mr. Big Shot" for his clutch play in big games, attributes the sloppiness the last two nights to the fact that little was at stake.

"It's kind of tough, but the good thing about it is those games are over now and every game is as big as the next one now," Billups said.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each scored 14 points for the U.S. team and Stephen Curry had 13. Marouan Kechrid scored 15 points and Macram Ben Romdhane added 11 for Tunisia, which went 0-5 in its first appearance in the worlds.

"For our first participation, I am happy," Tunisia coach Adel Tlatli said.

Krzyzewski played his starters the entire first quarter, which ended with the Americans up 19-13. The reserves went the whole second, and though they pushed the lead into double digits, Tunisia was within two in the final minute before the Americans got the final two baskets for a 39-33 lead.

Clearly taking advantage of the Americans' lack of interest, Tunisia hustled to keep possessions alive, even ripping a couple of balls out of U.S. players' hands. But those extra possessions usually ended in missed shots. Tunisia hit 28 percent after entering the game at 36 percent for the tournament, second worst in the 24-team field.

The Americans finally broke it open midway through the third quarter. An 8-2 burst turned an eight-point lead into a 55-41 advantage. Gordon and Curry made consecutive 3-pointers in an 8-0 spurt that extended it to 63-44 in the final minute of the period.

With Gordon making four 3-pointers and Curry three, the Americans finished 10 of 26 from behind the arc.

"We were giving up open shots," Westbrook said. "They came out and played hard and that's what that team has been doing the whole time they've been here," Westbrook said. "They kind of caught us off guard."

Jackson was honored before Game 1 of Seattle's best-of-three Western Conference final against defending champion Phoenix. Also, the Storm's Brian Agler was named the league's coach of the year.

Jackson, a 6-foot-5 forward from Australia, averaged 20.5 points and 8.3 rebounds while helping the Storm to a 28-6 record — tying the league mark for the most wins in a season.

"It's just because of where we are at the moment and the opportunity to do great things this year," Jackson said. "Especially playing the Western Conference finals, that definitely makes it special."

Jackson received 323 points in the voting, including 22 first-place votes from the panel of 39 media members. Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings was second with 262 points (10 first-place votes), and New York Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter was third with 207 points and five first-place votes.

Jackson, selected by the Storm with the first overall pick in the 2001 draft, was previously league MVP in 2007 when she averaged a career-best 23.8 points, and in 2003 when Jackson was the first international player and youngest player to ever receive the award. She joins Sheryl Swoopes (2000, '02, '05) and Lisa Leslie (2001, '04, '06) as the only three-time selections.

Finally healthy, Jackson again showed why she is considered one of the top players in the world. After battling ankle and back problems that cost her parts of the previous two seasons, Jackson managed her health in 2010 and the Storm benefited.

Jackson scored 20 or more points in 16 of her 32 games this season, sitting out twice simply for rest as the Storm raced to a 22-3 start and coasted to the finish. Jackson finished fourth in the league in scoring.

"That run we made when we were 22-2 - that was just awesome," she said. "And winning like that at home, and after every game having the feeling of relief and knowing that we can win here - that was probably the most important part for me."

Agler is in his second head coaching job in the WNBA after being the first coach of the Minnesota Lynx from 1999-2002. After marginal success with the Lynx, Agler has found greater success in Seattle.

In three seasons with the Storm, Agler has led Seattle to 68 victories in the regular season. Seattle finally shook its five-year playoff curse and advanced out of the first-round of the playoffs with a sweep of Los Angeles last week.

"This season has sort of been built up over the last two years," Agler said. "It was putting things together, establishing the way you want to play, developing a proper mindset, and then getting everyone to improve individually. Any time you put a group together, you never know how the chemistry is going to play out. But because of this core group that we had, it sort of came together quite smoothly."

He received 17 votes from the media panel. New York's Anne Donovan — Agler's predecessor in Seattle — was second with 13 votes. Washington's Julie Plank had nine.

The New York Times and Seattle Times first reported the awards.

MVP Jackson leads Storm past Mercury in Game 1

Her performance against Phoenix in Game 1 on Thursday night speaks for itself.

Jackson had 23 points and a team playoff-record 17 rebounds to lead Seattle to an 82-74 victory over the Mercury.

Jackson, who was named MVP prior to the game, fell one rebound shy of her season high and had her double-double in the books with 3:15 left in the first half.

"That's Lauren. That's why she's the MVP — she can get it done in a variety of ways," said Sue Bird, who had 10 assists. "And the way she's getting rebounds ... that's key against this team. Defensively, it doesn't allow them to score or allow them second shots. And offensively, it doesn't allow them to run. So Lauren was huge for us on the boards."

Svetlana Abrosimova added 16 points for the Storm, and Le'Coe Willingham had 10 in Seattle's 19th straight home win.

Penny Taylor scored 16 points and Candice Dupree added 15 for the defending champion Mercury. Diana Taurasi, who averaged 22.6 points during the regular season, scored nine on 2-of-15 shooting.

Seattle kept the Mercury 25 points below their postseason scoring average. Phoenix averaged 93.8 points during the regular season.

Game 2 of the series is Sunday at Phoenix.

"We battled through some tough moments, but we didn't get things done to win the game," Taurasi said. "I couldn't make a shot. I never blame the defense on missing shots. I had some really good looks, which I usually knock down. But tonight, they didn't go down. Hopefully on Sunday, I can get it together a little bit."

The Storm jumped to a 22-7 lead in the first quarter, helped in part by the cold-shooting Mercury, who hit only one of their first 11 shots and went more than four minutes between their first and second baskets.

The Mercury pulled to 23-20 early in the second quarter with a 13-1 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Temeka Johnson and Taurasi, but would get no closer.

Taurasi picked up her third foul with 7:05 left in the half, but sat out 2½ minutes before returning and playing the rest of the way until the break.

"The last time I saw this from Diana was in 2007 — I think it was a game in Detroit," said Phoenix coach Corey Gaines. "Next game, she came out and had 30-something. I'm not worried about it. It happens."

Seattle took a 47-33 lead into halftime, by which time Jackson had 17 points and 12 boards.

"She didn't score for the first two or three minutes, but from the middle of the first quarter on into the second, she was really doing some damage inside," said the Storm's Brian Agler, named WNBA coach of the year before the game. "In the first half, she really went after the basketball, gave herself some second opportunities and gave our team some extra possessions, which is very important against Phoenix."

The Mercury trailed 59-55 late in the third quarter, but the Storm stretched the lead back to 10 early in the fourth and Phoenix trailed by at least seven points the rest of the way.

"It was a tough shooting night for us," said Gaines, whose team shot 38 percent (27-of-71) from the field. "We couldn't score. They're a great defensive team. It was one of those nights."

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