Basketball Capsules: Big second quarter helps U.S. run away from Croatia
ISTANBUL — For weeks, U.S. players have been hearing about what they aren’t.
Not big enough. Not old enough. And maybe even not good enough.
On Saturday, they finally got to show what they believe they can be: the team that ends a 16-year world championship drought.
Kevin Durant scored 14 points and got the United States started on a dominant second-quarter stretch in a 106-78 victory over Croatia in its opening game of the tournament.
“People aren’t expecting us to come out here and win, so we just wanted to make a statement and I think tonight we did,” Durant said.
Eric Gordon made four 3-pointers and had 16 points to lead the Americans, who turned a close game into a blowout by limiting the Croatians to six points in the second quarter. Chauncey Billups finished with 12 points.
It was an impressive start for a U.S. team that came to Turkey without any players who helped them win the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. Instead of those superstars, the Americans are left with a young, undersized team that features Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer, as its centerpiece.
He scored five straight points to kick off the decisive burst early in the second quarter and added eight rebounds in just 21 minutes.
All 12 players scored for the Americans, as coach Mike Krzyzewski was able to give his starters plenty of rest with the U.S. playing its three toughest Group B games in the first three days of the tournament.
Though USA Basketball officials hoped to have a LeBron James or Kobe Bryant — whose picture hangs in a large poster just inside the entrance — they couldn’t have asked for much more than what they saw from the replacements Saturday.
And it’s this group, which has been called the U.S. “B” team that can earn an automatic berth into the 2012 Olympics by winning the worlds — which has rarely been easy for the United States.
As the Americans took the court for warmups, the overhead scoreboard was playing clips of recent U.S. failures at the worlds from 2002 and 2006. They have won the event just three times, none since 1994.
But even without its biggest names, this U.S. team might be good enough if it plays the way it did in the second quarter.
“We like that type of adversity,” Gordon said. “People think we’re too young or too small, but I think we’re playing well as a team and we play much faster when we’re smaller, and we’re just an overall good team.”
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 17 points and Marko Popovic added 16 for Croatia, which once was among the world’s best teams but hadn’t played in the world championship since winning a bronze medal in 1994.
The Croatians hung tough for a quarter but couldn’t overcome their awful perimeter shooting in the second period.
The Americans scored the first seven points of the game, but Croatia settled down and executed its offense well in the halfcourt to get open looks under the basket. The Croatians grabbed a 19-18 lead on Marko Banic’s follow shot with 1:42 left in the first quarter and trailed just 22-20 heading to the second.
But the U.S. quickly blew it open in the second. Durant’s three-point play started a 12-0 run that pushed the lead to 14, and consecutive 3-pointers by Gordon and another by Rudy Gay extended it to 47-26 with 1:48 to go in the half.
Croatia was just 3 of 17 from the field in the period and missed 12 of its 13 3-point attempts in the half.
“We were good in the first period but then we didn’t fight,” Croatia coach Josip Vrankovic said. “We had some problems about free throws and 3-point field goals. We will be more careful the next day.”
The Americans will need to sustain this level of play through four more games in pool play, then four more once the knockout stage begins.
“I think that’s what we’re learning to do,” Gay said. “Every day is a process and we’re getting better at it. We’ve only been playing together for what, five games? So we’re still learning to play with each other.”
Gay and Russell Westbrook both scored 10 points for the Americans, who shot 55 percent from the field and were only outrebounded 41-39 despite using a small lineup with 6-foot-10 Lamar Odom as the starting center. Reserve Kevin Love grabbed 10 rebounds in just 13 minutes.
The U.S. faces Slovenia on Sunday followed by a game against Brazil on Monday.
Group A
Australia 76. Jordan 75
David Andersen had 22 points, including two late free throws, and Australia survived the upset bid of Jordan. Center Alex Maric had 23 points and nine rebounds for Australia, which didn’t take its first lead until the end of the third quarter.
Rasheim Wright had 16 points for Jordan but he missed a layup in the final seconds.
Serbia 94, Angola 44
Aleksandar Rasic scored 22 points for Serbia, which played without two of its best players. Center Nenad Krstic was suspended for three games by FIBA and guard Milos Teodosic was suspended for two for their roles in a brawl against Greece in a warmup tournament earlier this month.
Olimpio Cipriano led Angola with 10 points.
Argentina 78, Germany 74
Carlos Delfino, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, scored 27 points, including three free throws over the final 10 seconds for Argentina, while Luis Scola, who plays for the Houston Rockets, added 20.
Demond Greene had 20 points for Germany, which rallied from an 11-point deficit to tie the game at 73-all with 1:30 to play.
Group B
Slovenia 80, Tunisia 56
Goran Dragic, Steve Nash’s backup with the Phoenix Suns, had 16 points and eight assists to lead Slovenia, which was 9 of 13 from the field in the first quarter.
Radhouane Slimane had 11 points for Tunisia, which is making its first appearance in the world championships.
Brazil 81, Iran 65
Guilherme Giovannoni scored 17 points and Tiago Splitter and Leandro Barbosa added 13 apiece for Brazil.
Brazil was without Cleveland Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao, who injured an ankle in an exhibition game and isn’t expected to play until the Brazilians face the United States on Monday.
Center Hamed Haddadi of the Memphis Grizzlies scored 16 points for Iran, the Asia champions making their debut in the worlds.
Group C
Greece 89, China 81
Nikolaos Zisis and Ioannis Bourousis both scored 21 points to lead Greece.
Yi Jianlian of the Washington Wizards had 26 points to lead China, which closed within 81-79 but got no closer.
Russia 75, Puerto Rico 66
Sergey Monya scored 16 points to lead Russia’s balanced attack. Timofey Mozgov, a 7-foot-1 center who signed with the New York Knicks this offseason, and Sasha Kaun both added 13 points for Russia.
Jose Juan Barea of the Dallas Mavericks scored 25 points for Puerto Rico.
Turkey 86, Ivory Coast 47
Omer Onan scored 18 points and Ersan Ilyasova of the Milwaukee Bucks added 17 for the host country.
Jonathan Kale had 10 points for Ivory Coast, which trailed 40-22 at halftime.
Group D
Lithuania 92, New Zealand 79
Linas Kleiza scored 27 points and Paulius Jankunas added 15 for Lithuania, which took off with a 10-0 run in the second quarter.
Kirk Penney had 37 points to lead New Zealand.
Lebanon 81, Canada 71
Fadi El Khatib, known to his countrymen as “The Tiger,” scored 31 points to lead Lebanon. The 6-foot-6 El Khatib was 5 of 5 from the field and scored 16 points in the third quarter. Matt Freije, a former All-SEC player at Vanderbilt, hit a 3-pointer that gave Lebanon the lead for good at 66-64 with 4:58 to play.
Joel Anthony of the Miami Heat had 17 points for Canada.
France 72, Spain 66
Mickael Gelabale scored 16 points and France was nearly perfect at the free throw late in the win over the defending champions. France made 10 of its last 12 free throws to seal the win.
Juan Carlos Navarro had 17 points for Spain, which won the title in Japan in 2006 and is playing without Pau Gaso of the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Greece appeal fails, basketball suspensions stand
ISTANBUL — Basketball’s governing body has rejected Greece’s appeal of two player suspensions stemming from a brawl in a game against Serbia.
Patrick Baumann, FIBA’s secretary general, said the punishment given to Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis will stand, and the players will miss the first two games of the world championships that open Saturday.
Baumann added that Serbia chose not to appeal the suspensions given to Nenad Krstic and Milos Teodosic. Krstic received the harshest penalty, a three-game ban, after throwing a chair in the Aug. 19 brawl near the end of a game in Athens.
Baumann said players representing their national teams have an “added obligation to behave properly.”
“We are not in favor of violence and therefore we sanction the players,” he said during a press conference before the opener of Group B play.
The United States heads that group, playing without superstars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. The tournament was plagued by player withdrawals, with top NBA talent such as Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobili and Dirk Nowitzki skipping the event.
But Baumann said that “doesn’t mean the technical level of the championship will be lower.”
“This is an exciting moment for those that sometimes live a little bit in the shadows,” Baumann said.
Baumann also said Britain’s players have done well on the court, but the country’s basketball leadership must show more commitment to earn an automatic berth into the 2012 Olympics in London.
The host country traditionally qualifies automatically for the Olympics, but FIBA isn’t guaranteeing a spot until it sees basketball earn more of status in Britain.
Baumann praised Britain’s players for recently qualifying for next summer’s European championships, saying that’s “evidence things are progressing.” But he said it’s “a matter for those behind the scenes,” adding he wants to know what basketball’s legacy would be in Britain once the Olympics are over.
A decision will probably be made next fall.
-- Brian Mahoney
NBA
Snyder takes long road to 76ers
PHILADELPHIA — Quin Snyder was in a basketball nowhere land. He rode the bus on those three-movie road trips on the NBDL circuit where everyone in a uniform believed they were one big break away from a look at the big time.
He was several years and 800 miles removed from his days as the next bona fide coaching wonderboy at Missouri. Stripped of all the first-class amenities of a major D-I program, Snyder says he was happy in the minors.
“Pure basketball,” Snyder said.
No recruiting trips, no late-night phone calls that a star player was in trouble. There was scant media attention, no announcers delivering bad news, and definitely no NCAA investigation into every nook of the organization.
“Everybody wants to get out of there,” Snyder said. “But unless you can be there body, mind and spirit, it’s tough to get out.”
Snyder is out and back on a national stage. The coach who led the Tigers on a trip to the final eight before a precipitous fall knocked him out of the game, then into Austin, Texas, was hired this summer by the Philadelphia 76ers. He’s part of a revamped coaching staff led by Doug Collins trying to mold a young nucleus into a playoff contender.
If his path toward the NBA was long and winding, Snyder’s actual hire was like a breakneck bucket off the fastbreak.
“He said, ‘Hey Q, do you want to come?”’ Snyder said, laughing, of Collins’ pitch.
“I know him and I trust him. He said, ‘Be a coach.’ I think I’ve got a pretty good idea what that means. If I’m screwing up, I’ll get it right.”
He gets his shot at the NBA because of a longstanding friendship with the Collins family.
Snyder and Chris Collins, Doug’s son, became close at Duke. Snyder was an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski and Collins a 3-point shooting guard. At the time, Doug Collins enjoyed talking basketball and player development with Snyder on frequent trips to watch games in Durham, N.C.
When Snyder was hired at only 32 to replace Tigers legend Norm Stewart at Missouri, Doug Collins was invited to practice and offered advice and input. When Snyder went through a messy divorce with the school, it was Collins who offered moral support and a place to crash.
Collins and his wife invited Snyder to spend some time with the family in Phoenix. “That was a very important time for me and I’ll always be grateful to him for that,” Snyder said.
Collins called it the right thing to do for a friend getting ripped in the national spotlight. “Quin is like a son to me,” Collins said. “My wife and I, we sort of put our arms around him. We love Quin.”
Snyder’s career had imploded only four years after his NCAA tournament success. His program was plagued by off-the-court problems that began with the 2003 arrest of point guard Ricky Clemons on domestic assault charges. Clemons subsequently accused a Tigers assistant coach of paying him cash, charges that an NCAA investigation failed to substantiate.
The NCAA did identify 42 violations, from improper meal purchases for amateur coaches to improper contact with recruits by Snyder and two assistants.
Missouri was placed on three years of probation, lost three scholarships and was barred from off-campus recruiting for one year. His defense wasn’t helped by the only thing worse than NCAA sanctions: losing. Snyder was 42-42 and missed the NCAA tournament his final two-plus seasons
Snyder resigned in a two-sentence statement 21 games into the 2005-06 season, although he still claims that he was fired.
“Those are semantics in my mind. Technically, I resigned. In my mind, I was fired,” Snyder said. “Any time you’re asked to resign, it’s the same thing.”
Snyder had a compensation package of over $1 million a year and went 126-91 with six postseason appearances. He passed on other marquee jobs because he loved his players and is proud of his team’s high graduation rate.
“I felt like we were building something that was pretty special. That ended,” Snyder said. “It put me through some things that made me really ask myself tough questions about whether I wanted to coach.”
An academic All-American with Duke law and business degrees, Snyder considered all types of jobs during his yearlong sabbatical, like investment banking or entrepreneurial endeavors. He just couldn’t shake the coaching bug.
David Kahn was a friend of Snyder since the early 1990s. Now the GM for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kahn owned the Austin Toros in 2007 and offered Snyder a second shot at coaching far from the spotlight of March Madness.
He took over in a pinch after coach Dennis Johnson’s sudden death and led the Toros to the D-League finals in his first season. Snyder insists he never wanted to use the Toros as a steppingstone job and was content in the NBDL.
The Toros were affiliated with the San Antonio Spurs, allowing Snyder a rare and welcomed opportunity to work with an NBA staff. He traveled with coach Gregg Popovich and the Spurs during the postseason. He sat in on team meetings, participated in coach retreats, and stayed involved in San Antonio’s summer league and preseason games.
“I had a great opportunity with people who were very supportive,” Snyder said. “I had the opportunity to work in the NBA. It was one that was pretty unique.”
Snyder sidestepped a question about how much longer he was willing to coach in the developmental league. It’s not his worry anymore.
He moved into a house with his wife and two dogs this week and joked that he is only looking for a good cheesesteak. Snyder, who successfully recruited 76ers forward Elton Brand at Duke, knows he can make a difference on a team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2003.
“There’s no fear of failure,” he said. “That’s empowering in my mind.”
WNBA
Mercury finish sweep of Silver Stars, 92-73
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The defending champion Phoenix Mercury made quick work of the San Antonio Silver Stars.
Diana Taurasi scored 23 points and Tangela Smith added 16 as the Mercury jumped to a 19-point lead in the first quarter and beat the Silver Stars 92-73 Saturday, completing a sweep of their Western Conference semifinals series.
Phoenix has eliminated San Antonio from the playoffs three times in four years. The previous two times — 2007 and 2009 — the Mercury went on to win the WNBA championship.
"We're hoping it's a trend that continues," said Phoenix's Penny Taylor, who had 12 points and 12 assists.
The Mercury will face the Storm in the conference finals, beginning Thursday night at Seattle. The Storm, who were a league-best 28-6 in the regular season, beat Los Angeles 81-66 to sweep their series. Seattle won all five meetings with Phoenix during the season.
Taurasi and Smith combined to hit their first nine shots, including 7 for 7 in the first quarter
Unlike Game 1, in which the Mercury gradually but steadily pulled away, this was a rout from the outset. Phoenix led 21-2 less than 6 minutes in, and Taurasi and Smith totaled 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting to help the Mercury build a 30-15 lead after the first quarter.
"Our defense, in the beginning, really took them out of their sets," Mercury coach Corey Gaines said. "It left them with shots that gave us fast breaks, and that's what we live on."
Becky Hammon led the Silver Stars with 21 points and seven assists. Sophia Young had 15 points and Ruth Riley added 13.
The undersized Silver Stars frequently found themselves in physical mismatches, particularly early in the game. On Phoenix's first possession, a defensive switch left 5-foot-6 Hammon on the 6-3 Smith.
"That's just the way they play," first-year Silver Stars coach Sandy Brondello said. "They do things 100 percent: they cut, they move the ball, they find the mismatches. They overpowered us, particularly in that first half.
"This is a championship team from last year. They're without Cappie Pondexter, but they've added a player in Candice Dupree that really fits their style. She has that mobility and she was a really hard guard for us."
Dupree, the Game 1 star with 32 points, scored 13 of her 19 points in the second half, and also grabbed 11 rebounds. The Mercury shot 53 percent from the field and assisted on 25 of their 37 baskets.
The Silver Stars did not hit their second field goal until the 4-minute mark of the first period, when Hammon made a 3-pointer to make it 21-5.
"We beat ourselves early, and then when you're just fighting you have to have everything go right," said Hammon, who led the Silver Stars with 21 points. "You can't miss shots. There's just no margin for error."
San Antonio, hampered by the late-season loss of Chamique Holdsclaw because of a torn Achilles' tendon, was 5 of 17 from the field in the opening quarter and finished 27 for 72 (38 percent).
"That first quarter I don't really know why we came out flat," Hammon said. "I don't understand that. And then we were just fighting the rest of the game to get back within striking distance."
San Antonio trailed 48-30 at halftime, but even with a 19-8 run bridging the third and fourth quarters, the Silver Stars got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
"You can't shoot 38 percent and beat Phoenix, I don't care who you are," Hammon said. "You're missing a lot of shots, which just initiates their transition. In a run-and-gun, they're at their best."
Jackson helps Storm finish sweep of Sparks
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Once again, the Seattle Storm were were just too much for the Los Angeles Sparks.
Lauren Jackson had 24 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and three steals as the Storm beat the Sparks 81-66 Saturday to sweep their best-of-three Wetern Conference semifinals series.
"Lauren makes that big of an impact," Seattle coach Brian Agler said. "It's not just the scoring. It's her ability to recognize double-teams and find open people. It's what she does defensively."
Swin Cash scored 16 points and Sue Bird added 15 to lead Seattle, which was a league-best 28-6 in the regular season. The Storm won a postseason series for the first time since winning the WNBA finals in 2004, and beat the Sparks in all seven matchups this year — including five in the regular season.
"I'm just glad we got the win here," Jackson said. "For me, it means a lot. As long as I've been playing, L.A's been our No. 1 nemesis, really. It doesn't matter who they have on their roster. They're always going to be tough."
The Storm will face Phoenix in the conference finals, which begin Thursday night in Seattle. The Mercury beat San Antonio 92-73 earlier Saturday to sweep their series.
"It was very important to close out the series tonight knowing our next opponent closed out their series as well," Jackson said. "We need as much time to get rest and focus our attention on Phoenix and making it to the finals."
Tina Thompson led Los Angeles with 18 points, Noelle Quinn had 15 and DeLisha Milton-Jones cored 14.
"Playing this team was a real challenge and we really had trouble stopping all their offensive weapons," Sparks coach Jennifer Gillom said. "In the first half, Lauren really took it to us and we made some adjustments but in the second half Bird and Cash really picked them up and took the game over."
Seattle shot 48 percent from the field (28 for 59), including 55 percent (12 for 22) on 3-pointers. The Sparks were just 38 percent (24 for 64).
Los Angeles eliminated Seattle in the first round the previous two years, but the Storm won all seven matchups this year — going 5-0 in the regular season.
The Storm trailed by five points early in the second quarter, before an 8-2 run capped by Jackson's layup gave them a 26-25 lead with under 6½ minutes remaining in the first half.
After Los Angeles' Ticha Penicheiro hit a jumper to tie the score at 28-all midway through the period, Jackson made two free throws and Cash had a 3 to give the Storm the lead for good.
"Sometimes, we start a bit slow but we always manage to find our way," Jackson said. "Once we started moving the ball around and finding open people, everything started to fall into place."
Los Angeles rallied and pulled to 46-44 on Penicheiro's layup with 7:06 left in the third, but Seattle scored the next six points and pushed the lead back to eight on Camille Little's basket about 2 minutes later. A 14-3 run increased the advantage to 71-54 with 7 minutes to go in the fourth.
"Our execution was poor tonight and we just couldn't capitalize on our opportunities," Quinn said. "We had a lot of trouble knocking down shots and I thought that was the difference."
Quinn and Milton-Jones made consecutive 3s to pull Los Angeles within 11 with 4:40 left, but that was as close as the Sparks got.
Los Angeles completed a disappointing first season in the post-Lisa Leslie era. The Sparks lost Candace Parker 10 games in and were 3-11 before splitting their last 20 games to take the No. 4 seed in the West.
"Losing players and facing adversity is something these players must get used to," Thompson said. "I thought our team played hard throughout the season and I'm proud how we left everything on the floor."
