Basketball Capsules: U.S. beats Angola 121-66, reaches quarters at worlds
ISTANBUL (AP) — Before it can win a world championship, the United States needed to start looking like a world champion.
Kevin Durant, Chauncey Billups and the rest of the Americans finally had that appearance Monday, powering into the quarterfinals with a 121-66 victory over Angola.
"Obviously we want to stay humble, but at the same time we have to know that we can do it," forward Kevin Love said. "We know regardless of what people are saying, that we still are the favorites and we should play and really act like it, too."
They did, opening the knockout round with a quick knockout.
With Billups scoring 16 of his 19 points and Durant all of his 17 in the first half, the Americans saved their most impressive performance in Istanbul for the elimination stage, overwhelming the Angolans from the start after a couple of lackluster performances to close the group stage.
"We don't want to be a team that's going to turn it on and off," Durant said. "I think of course we're playing with a little more sense of urgency when you know if you lose, you go home. Guys came out and responded from those last two games."
The U.S. forced turnovers that led to easy baskets in transition, and when forced into the halfcourt, shot 18 of 38 from 3-point range, one off the team record for 3s in a world championship game.
"Our guys were sharp," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Eric Gordon and Rudy Gay also scored 17 for the Americans, who will face Russia on Thursday night. Gordon was 5 of 6 behind the arc.
Joaquim Gomes, who played at Valparaiso, scored 21 for Angola, which finished fourth in Group A. The Angolans advanced on a tiebreaker by virtue of their overtime victory over Germany, but had lost by 50 to Serbia, and 21 apiece to Argentina and Australia.
They were no match for the Americans, who had won the teams' four meetings in the Olympics, starting with a 116-48 romp in the Dream Team's debut in Barcelona in 1992, straight through to a 97-76 victory in Beijing two years ago.
This quickly became one of those no-contests.
"We can do a little bit better, but we tried our best," Angola coach Luis Magalhaes said.
The Americans lacked some focus against Iran and Tunisia in their last two games, knowing victory was certain and not wanting to embarrass opponents or get any of their own players hurt.
But they expected to be sharper after a couple of days of practice, knowing they would press, substitute frequently, and raise their overall level of play with the games finally becoming important.
"This is what we all sacrificed our summers for," Billups said of trying to win the Americans' first world title since 1994. "Right now we're on the right path."
The U.S. won the opening tip for the first time in Istanbul and scored the first five points. Billups and Durant nailed consecutive 3-pointers to cap a 10-0 spurt and make it 22-7, and the Americans led 33-13 after one.
Billups is playing out of his normal NBA position as a shooting guard, and he made only 4 of 19 3-point attempts in preliminary play. Krzyzewski was asked last week if he would consider a lineup change, and he said he would look at it.
The lineup stayed the same, but Billups looked much different.
The lead ballooned to 29 late in the second quarter. Durant shot 7 of 10 in the half and Billups was 4 of 6, all from behind the arc, and Durant's 3-pointer with 7 seconds left sent the Americans to the half with a 65-33 advantage.
Derrick Rose made two straight 3-pointers and Billups added another to start the U.S. scoring in the third quarter, and the lead grew to 37 late in the period. The Americans were 6 of 9 behind the arc in the period, which ended with them leading 91-56.
The Americans finished with 30 assists on their 41 field goals and committed just five turnovers.
"That's what we strive for, that's what we're here for, is to try to win," Gordon said, "and as long as we keep on using our talent and being unselfish, we should be able to win."
Felizardo Ambrosio finished with 12 points and Roberto Fortes 11 for Angola, which played without leading scorer Olimpio Cipriano because of a leg injury.
"It was a different challenge tonight," U.S. assistant Nate McMillan said. "Their key guy didn't play tonight, so that took one of their options away, but it was about us. I thought we established ourselves early defensively as far as we wanted to play."
French official Mainini elected FIBA president
ISTANBUL (AP) — Longtime French basketball president Yvan Mainini is the new president of the sport's international governing body.
The FIBA world congress unanimously approved Mainini during its meetings that ended Monday. He will replace Bob Elphinston of Australia, who served a four-year term.
The 65-year-old Mainini has been president of the French basketball federation since 1992. He was a referee in more than 1,000 games, including three Olympics and three world championships.
FIBA also announced that secretary general Patrick Baumann's contract was extended through 2022.
WNBA
Dream 1 win away from unlikely spot in WNBA finals
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Dream made WNBA history for the most losses in a season only two years ago.
Now comes a shot at a record to brag about: The Dream are one win away from becoming the first expansion team to reach the WNBA finals in its third season.
The Dream will try to complete a two-game sweep of the New York Liberty in the best-of-three Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night. Seattle awaits the Atlanta-New York winner in the WNBA finals.
Atlanta finished 4-30 in its inaugural 2008 season. The Dream improved to 18-16 last season and lost to Detroit in the first round of the playoffs.
Even Atlanta's players are caught off-guard by this year's playoff run.
"At the start of the year I was wondering how good we could be and I had no thoughts we could be a champion," forward Iziane Castro Marques said after Monday's practice.
The expectations changed after the Dream opened the season with six straight wins.
"After that 6-0 run, I thought 'There we go. We can do this,'" Castro Marques said. "I definitely changed my perspective after that run and saw that we could beat any team in this league. We proved that."
Atlanta has taken opening road wins in each playoff series this year. The Dream won two straight over Washington in the first round of the playoffs before winning at New York 81-75 on Sunday.
The Dream struggled at the end of the regular season, losing six of its last seven for a 19-15 record and No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Dream suddenly found its early season form just in time for the postseason.
Even coach and general manager Marynell Meadors is surprised.
"To do this in our third year, no it doesn't happen in professional sports where you have a third-year expansion team make it this far," Meadors said.
Atlanta is winning with its running game. Meadors has sought up-tempo players and found a finisher for the fast-break points in second-year star Angel McCoughtry.
McCoughtry has scored more than 20 points in each of the team's three playoff wins after averaging 21.1 points in the regular season.
McCoughtry, a 6-foot-1 forward, has emerged as the team's star after being named WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2009.
"When I was putting this thing together, I knew that we had to have a running team," Meadors said.
"I like to coach a fast team. I like the running game. I had to make sure we had players who could do that. It has worked out so well and we've been very fortunate to pick up some good players through free agency and the draft."
Sancho Lyttle, a 6-foot-4 forward, has had two straight double-doubles in the playoffs. Lyttle, a two-time All-Star, came to Atlanta last year after the Houston franchise folded following the 2008 season.
Castro Marques has averaged 16.9 points.
While McCoughtry is the team's biggest star, Meadors said the team's strength is its depth. Meadors keeps fresh players on the floor to maintain an up-tempo pace.
"If we have 11 players, we try to get all 11 in the game," Meadors said. "They all know they're going to get in the game. It depends on them how long they stay."
The Dream's home is Philips Arena, also the home of the Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Thrashers. Due to a scheduling conflict, the Dream's home games in the WNBA finals would be at the Gwinnett Arena in Duluth, near Atlanta. The Dream played their home playoff game last year in Duluth.
-- Charles Odum
College Men
UConn says NCAA will have response Tuesday
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — The University of Connecticut says the public will likely have to wait to see its response to the NCAA's allegations of major violations in the school's men's basketball program.
The school has until Tuesday to respond to the May report, which found eight major violations of NCAA regulations.
The university was expected to respond by Aug. 20, but that deadline has been moved twice, first to Sept. 3 and then to Tuesday. The school says it will meet the latest deadline, but that compliance officials must then go over the document before it's released to the media.
Some information will likely be redacted to meet state privacy and Freedom of Information Act requirements.
