Basketball Capsules: U.S. beats Greece 87-59 in last game before worlds
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The United States breezed to one last exhibition victory before the start of the world basketball championships, not that coach Mike Krzyzewski seemed to care.
He's just happy that his group brimming with youthful exuberance is ready to play.
"The score doesn't really matter, it was just an exhibition game," Krzyzewski said after an 87-59 blowout of defending silver medalist Greece on Wednesday. "I'm happy we had the chance to play a great team, in a great atmosphere."
Eric Gordon scored 18 points to pace the Americans, who led from start to finish against a Greece team playing for the first time since a brawl near the end of an exhibition game against Serbia turned the focus of the upcoming world championships away from the court.
The incident happened during the Acropolis tournament last week, and officials from the international basketball federation FIBA are still reviewing details. Any sanctions are expected to be announced before the worlds begin Saturday in Turkey.
The U.S. team, which is missing many of the stars that helped win Olympic gold two years ago, used superior quickness to disrupt Greece's ball movement and clog passing lanes. Greece wound up turning the ball over 24 times and was outrebounded 53-25, including 30-7 in the second half, when the game was largely decided.
The U.S. led 22-14 after the first quarter and still hung onto a 42-32 halftime lead, before sealing the victory with a 28-12 run spanning the third quarter.
The crowd, which was never to boisterous to begin with, was mostly silenced, and even the Greek basketball online sites blogged less about the game and more about Khloe Kardashian, who is married to Lamar Odom and attended the game.
Greece figured to have a major size advantage, especially considering the U.S. team doesn't have a true center on its roster, but even that was negated when 6-foot-11 Yannis Bouroussis and 6-10 Sofoklis Schortsanitis sat out the game with injuries. Schortsanitis hurt his foot during warm-ups and was sent for an MRI exam.
The smaller Americans took advantage, even with Tyson Chandler in foul trouble. Kevin Love played well in the second half and finished with eight points and a team-high 13 rebounds.
In addition to Gordon, Love and Odom, the final 12-man roster for the U.S. includes: Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Rudy Gay, Chauncey Billups, Danny Granger, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala. Celtics guard Rajon Rondo pre-empted Krzyzewski's decision about the final roster cut Tuesday by taking himself out of contention citing family reasons.
Krzyzewski denied there was any friction with Rondo.
"We respect his decision and we appreciate his total commitment to the team. Rajon is a classy person," Krzyzewski said. "He is still in the pool of players we will consider for the (2012) London Olympics."
The world championships run through Sept. 12, and the U.S. has been placed in Group B along Brazil, Croatia, Iran, Slovenia and Tunisia as it pursues its first title since 1994.
Greece is joined by Group C by China, the Ivory Coast, Puerto Rico, Russia and Turkey.
World title can cap spectacular year for Spain
MADRID (AP) — Spain's reign as kings of the sports world this year can be assured by retaining their title at the basketball world championship.
The country's national soccer team finally won the World Cup last month, shortly after tennis star Rafael Nadal completed his second French Open-Wimbledon double in three years. Alberto Contador won his third Tour de France title in four years.
Now, the pressure is on the basketball team, which will have to play without star center Pau Gasol, who has decided to take a break from competition. The tournament starts Saturday in Turkey.
"They're a great team, whoever plays," Gasol said. "They're preparing very well and I hope they can emulate that in the tournament. It'll be tough, but they look prepared to keep winning more titles."
Spain will try to become only the third country to win back-to-back world basketball titles. Yugoslavia was the last team to do it, in 1998-2002, while Brazil managed it in 1959-63.
The Los Angeles Laker center's absence coupled with strong teams from the United States, Argentina and Greece will not make the task easy for the European champions.
"Spain's got a great team. They're as good as anybody," U.S coach Mike Krzyzewski said last week. "But any team with Pau is better."
The country's first World Cup victory in South Africa made it only the third nation to be world and European champions simultaneously. Top-ranked Nadal has taken his major total to eight since his first French Open victory in 2005. Nadal, who won the Olympic singles gold in Beijing two years ago, also helped Spain to Davis Cup victories in 2004, '08 and '09.
Nadal has a chance to become only the seventh player to record a career Grand Slam. If he reaches the U.S. Open final on Sept. 12, it could set up another super Sunday in Spain if the basketball team also delivers.
Contador's three Tour de France titles have made it five straight Spanish winners of cycling's biggest prize. Fernando Alonso put Spain in the Formula One spotlight with back-to-back world championships in 2005-06, and he's in the thick of this season's race.
In Turkey, things will be tough without Gasol, but the team has already shown it can survive without him — the big man missed the 70-47 final victory over Greece in Japan four years ago because of injury, when brother Marc filled in.
The bulk of that team will return this time, including Jorge Garbajosa, Felipe Reyes and Rudy Fernandez, while newcomers Ricky Rubio, Sergio Llull and Fran Vazquez have provided further depth to the European champions.
"The core of the group is good, defensively strong, united as always," Gasol said. "Some days better than others, but if we maintain this connection we have, we'll get there."
But Spain also will be without another NBA player, Jose Manuel Calderon, because the Toronto Raptors point guard tore a muscle in his left leg during an 86-85 exhibition loss to the United States on Sunday. Spain had won all eight of its warmup matches — including beating Argentina, Brazil and Lithuania — before that.
With Calderon out, Rubio will run the show for Spain. The 19-year-old point guard has been impressive since helping Spain win the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
"We've shown we're the two definite favorites to win the worlds," Garbajosa, a former Raptors forward, said of Spain and the U.S.
-- Paul Logothetis
NBA
New Suns GM Blanks takes charge, cites experience
PHOENIX (AP) — Lance Blanks is back from Africa and on the job as new general manager of the Phoenix Suns, saying he will try to employ what he learned in a decade of front office jobs with the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Blanks was in Senegal as part of the Basketball Without Borders organization when Suns president Lon Babby chose him to oversee the team's player personnel operation. He started work in Phoenix this week and was introduced at a news conference on Wednesday.
Blanks said he's "incredibly honored" to take a top job with an already successful franchise and "try to take it to higher ground."
That would be an NBA championship, something that has eluded the Suns throughout their history.
Last season, coach Alvin Gentry led Phoenix to a surprising run to the Western Conference finals, where the Suns lost to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
"It's pretty obvious that there's a great infrastructure in place to have success," Blanks said, "so part of my job will be staying out of the way and not messing this thing up."
The immediate job is a bit more challenging than that. The Suns have made a series of significant personnel changes following the departure of All-Star Amare Stoudemire, who opted out of the last year of his contract to sign with the New York Knicks.
Gentry, who said he has known Blanks for 21 years, said he is comfortable with the new roster, but acknowledged rebounding could be a problem. Blanks endorsed the Suns' high-octane offense, as long as some defense is included.
"I know Alvin has started to institute defense around here," Blanks said. "They're saying that a lot more."
Babby also is new to his job. Owner Robert Sarver hired the former agent after deciding to restructure the top of the Suns basketball operations department following Steve Kerr's decision not to return as vice president and general manager. Babby's first big chore was to find a general manager, and he liked Blanks immediately. The two discussed the job in Babby's Washington, D.C., office.
"When you sit down and talk to people in an intimate setting, you have a feel for whether or not it's going to work," Babby said, "and it was so clear to me after our conversation that when I got on the phone and told Robert that I would like him to meet Lance, I knew we had found the right guy."
While Babby is Blanks' boss, the president said he will be inclined to defer to Blanks on personnel issues.
"The reason Lance is here is because he meshes perfectly with my weaknesses," Babby said. "Whoever has the final say, I think it's fair to say he will have the most influential voice on personnel matters."
Blanks said he often jokingly tells friends he has succeeded on the coattails of Tim Duncan and LeBron James.
When asked about James' departure from Cleveland, Blanks was diplomatic.
"LeBron is 25 years old. My guess is, like us all, if we go back to that age there are things that we may or may not have done differently," Blanks said. "I don't think it's for me to judge how that situation was handled, what he could have said, might have said, would have done differently. That's between LeBron, his supporters and his family.
Blanks called the issue "water under the bridge."
"It's time to move forward," he said. "He had a great run in Cleveland. Personally I don't know that I'd be here today without some of the success he contributed there. I have nothing but the best things to say about LeBron and I wish him the best down in Miami."
-- Bob Baum
Bulls to unveil Pippen statue
CHICAGO (AP) — Just like Mike, Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen will get a statue at the United Center in Chicago.
The Chicago Bulls plan to unveil a bronze statue of Pippen, a seven-time All-Star who along with Michael Jordan led them to six championships in the 1990s, at some point next season.
Pippen joined the Bulls after playing in college at the University of Central Arkansas.
The announcement on Wednesday comes less than two weeks after Pippen's induction into the Hall of Fame. He calls it "an unbelievable honor."
The bronze statue will be sculpted by Omri and Julie Rotblatt-Amrany of Highland Park, Ill., who also crafted the famous Jordan statue erected outside the United Center in 1994. Pippen's will be displayed inside the arena.
Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf says there's "no better way" to pay tribute to Pippen.
Report: Ujiri to get Nuggets GM job
DENVER (AP) — The Denver Post is reporting former Denver Nuggets international scout Masai Ujiri has been chosen as the team's new general manager.
The newspaper reported on its website Wednesday night that the 39-year-old Ujiri, who was the Toronto Raptors' assistant general manager since 2008, will return to the Nuggets, where he served as a scout from 2003-07.
The Nuggets declined comment on the report and Ujiri didn't return a message left by The Associated Press.
Ujiri emerged as a front-runner for the job after the Nuggets couldn't reach an agreement with David Griffin, the former Phoenix Suns executive.
The Nuggets have been without a front office leader since the contracts of Mark Warkentien and Rex Chapman expired earlier this month.
