Basketball Capsules: U.S. beats Russia, 89-79, moves into semis at worlds
ISTANBUL (AP) — Chauncey Billups made the promise. Kevin Durant made sure it was kept.
And by beating Russia on Thursday, the Americans brought a little joy to one of the players who will never forget what happened against the Soviets exactly 38 years earlier.
Durant scored 33 points to lead the United States to an 89-79 victory that moved it within two wins of its first world basketball championship since 1994.
The victory came on the anniversary of the Soviet Union's win over the Americans for the 1972 Olympic gold medal, a game with an ending so controversial the U.S. players refused to accept their silver medals.
No player on the young American team is old enough to remember that game — many are barely old enough to remember the Cold War. But Mike Bantom, the NBA's senior vice president of player development, played on that U.S. team and is in Turkey with the Americans.
"I told him today, 'I know nothing's going to bring that back, man, but at least we'll try to make you at least smile today,' " Billups said. "And he was like, 'Yeah, that'd be nice.'"
Durant ensured there would be no worries at the finish of this one, shooting 11 of 19 while just missing Carmelo Anthony's world championship team record of 35 points, set in 2006.
"We're going to go to him," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I've learned in coaching you should get your best player the ball."
The U.S. will play Saturday against Lithuania, which beat Argentina 104-85. Host Turkey and Serbia will play in the other semifinal.
The U.S. and Russia have met many times since 1972, including a U.S. victory 16 years ago in Toronto that gave the Americans their last world championship. And there isn't much of a rivalry anymore between the nations — the NBA even opened an office in Moscow on Thursday.
But the memory hasn't faded of the clash in Munich, where the Soviets were given a third chance after the Americans stopped them twice in the final 3 seconds, and they eventually scored on the second do-over for a 51-50 victory — the Americans' first Olympic loss after 63 victories.
David Blatt, Russia's American-born coach, reopened some scars that will never heal for members of that U.S. team this week when he said he'd watched a film about the game and believed the outcome was fair.
Krzyzewski responded that, of course, Blatt would have that opinion as a Russian — which Blatt is not. He was born in the United States and went to Princeton.
Blatt stuck by his feelings about that game, but said his comments this week were taken out of context and the resulting back-and-forth was just gamesmanship.
"Coach K knows as well as I do that disagreeing or agreeing is generally very American," Blatt said. "We don't all have to see things the same way."
Blatt's team looked poised to deal the Americans more heartbreak, running its offense well in the first half and capitalizing on its size advantage inside to frustrate the U.S.
Then, leading by only five in the third quarter, the Americans finally began forcing the Russians into mistakes, which they turned into transition baskets that finally allowed them to shake free.
Russell Westbrook dunked after a turnover, hit a 3-pointer, came up with a steal and had another dunk to key a decisive 15-5 spurt that pushed the U.S. lead to 65-50. The Oklahoma City guard converted a three-point play to open the scoring in the fourth, and Durant's brilliance from there helped the Americans further extend it in the fourth.
Billups scored 15 points and Westbrook finished with 12, including seven in a row for the Americans when their athleticism finally turned away a Russian team that had the pace to its liking for the first half.
"I think some of us, we kind of started off a little slow and then didn't jump on them early, and tonight that was a big problem for us," Westbrook said. "Then second half, we kind of got into our rhythm."
The Americans finished with a 22-2 advantage in fast-break points and a 20-2 edge in points off turnovers.
Sergey Bykov scored 17 points for Russia, which exceeded expectations in this tournament after coming to the worlds without some of its top talent, most notably Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, the MVP of their 2007 European championship.
Andrey Vorontsevich had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Timofey Mozgov, recently signed by the New York Knicks, scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
The Americans missed 17 of their first 25 shots, rotated too slowly on defense, and were outworked on the boards while trailing for much of the first half.
The U.S. built an early six-point advantage before Mozgov began to control the middle. He hit all four of his shots in the first quarter, twice while getting fouled, and his last basket tied it at 25 heading to the second period.
Russia got the first two baskets of that quarter, starting with an embarrassingly easy drive into the lane for an uncontested layup by Dmitriy Khvostov. The Russians pushed their lead to 35-30 midway through the period on consecutive baskets by Bykov, and only then did the Americans start digging in on defense.
They held Russia without a basket for more than 4 minutes, running off 12 straight points to take a seven-point lead, before going into the locker room ahead 44-39.
The Russians will play in the consolation bracket, still hoping to finish fifth.
Lithuania tops Argentina 104-85 to gain 1st semis
ISTANBUL (AP) — Lithuania advanced to the semifinals of the basketball world championship for the first time Thursday, hitting nine of its first 11 3-pointers to beat Argentina 104-85 and set up a meeting with the United States.
Simas Jasaitis scored 16 points for Lithuania, which had seven players in double figures.
"People thought we were an underdog coming in. The reason we're in this spot right now is because of our team chemistry," said Lithuania's Martynus Pocius, a former Duke guard who will be playing against his former coach, Mike Krzyzewski, on Saturday.
Toronto Raptors forward Linas Kleiza added 17 points for Lithuania, while Tomas Delininkaitis and Pocius had 16 each.
Carlos Delfino of the Milwaukee Bucks scored 25 for Argentina, which missed its first 11 3-point attempts.
The defeat means Argentina won't finish in the top four at the worlds, Olympics or FIBA Americas Championship for the first time since 2000.
"This game tonight, there was only one team on the court: Lithuania," Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said. "They killed Argentina with defense, they ran the floor well and shot well. We could not stop them at any time."
Argentina's Luis Scola entered averaging 30.3 points a game — the third highest in worlds history — but turned in a forgettable performance. The Houston Rockets forward missed seven of his first 10 attempts to finish with 13 points.
Lithuania used an 8-0 run to jump ahead 17-10 with precise shooting, tenacious defense and crisp ball movement. It took a 50-30 lead at halftime and built its advantage to 32 points before Argentina cut it to 17 late in the game.
NBA
Collins ready to turn 76ers into contenders
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Each day Doug Collins walks 7 miles with his wife or completes his daily workouts, he is a living example of a triumphant rebuilding project.
His arthritic hips were replaced in May 2002 and his left knee was replaced in 2004, byproducts of an injury-riddled NBA career. His feet were wrecked in a charity exhibition game before he ever played a minute for the Philadelphia 76ers, leaving today's 20-something players to recognize Collins more from his career as a TNT broadcaster than anything he accomplished as an Olympic medalist and Sixers All-Star.
Collins lived in pain, even agony, at times, before surgeries he called lifesavers, but the 59-year-old now says with a convincing spark in his voice, "I've never felt better."
His body fixed, Collins has more repairs ahead.
Nearly four decades after the former No. 1 overall pick transformed the Sixers from the worst team in league history to the NBA finals in four seasons, Collins must reconstruct the Sixers from the bottom again. In a sports-mad city, the Sixers have lagged behind the Phillies, Flyers, Eagles, and even Villanova, in popularity and deep championship runs.
"They've been insignificant," Collins said. "I'd rather have the fans be angry than apathetic where they don't even cheer for the 76ers."
Collins was beckoned from the broadcast booth in May to make his former team matter again. That means, wins. Lots of them — especially in April, May and June.
He's the seventh coach charged with making the Sixers contenders since Larry Brown left in 2003. Randy Ayers, Chris Ford, Jim O'Brien, Maurice Cheeks and Tony DiLeo all tried and failed in mostly stunningly brief stints. Eddie Jordan was a bust in one season and was fired in a decision that cost Ed Stefanski his job as team president, though he's still the general manager.
Sixers chairman Ed Snider said he expected an "immediate impact" the day Collins signed a four-year contract.
He makes the full-time move to Philadelphia on Friday to start preparing for the opening of training camp on Sept. 28. Collins, who hasn't coached since 2003 with Washington, aims to change the mindset of his still-young roster. He wants Evan Turner, Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus Young and veterans like Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand to believe they can win, even though Philadelphia hasn't finished above .500 since 2004-05.
"I don't want them to get into the situation where it's, well, you're with the Sixers so you're supposed to lose," Collins said.
Trying to shed their mediocre ways, the Sixers named Rod Thorn as team president after Stefanski hired Collins. Thorn is a huge fan of Collins.
"I think Doug is as knowledgeable a basketball man as I know," Thorn said. "He brings that passion and commitment that I think this organization needs."
Collins could start camp with a refresher course in team history. As dire as it was last season for the 27-win Sixers, it seemed like playing in contention compared to the 1972-73 season. Those Sixers went 9-73 — still the worst record in NBA history, but one that allowed them to make Collins the top pick out of Illinois State. Their win total improved to 25, 34 and 46 in the next three years, then 50 wins in 1976-77 and a six-game loss to Portland in the finals.
Collins played only 58 games that season and Julius Erving, George McGinnis, and World B. Free had established themselves as the stars of the franchise. Collins made four All-Star teams in Philadelphia, though injuries ended his career way before he fulfilled his potential.
He broke his foot in a summer league game before his rookie season, costing him 57 games. He suffered from stress fractures in his feet, which affected his style and led to knee injuries.
"I know I gave everything to Philadelphia, including both my hips and my left knee," said Collins, who retired at 29 after averaging 17.9 points in 415 career games.
He has refused to complain about the brevity of his career, the same way he handled the heartache of the American team's controversial loss to Russia at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Collins made two free throws with 3 seconds left that seemingly gave USA the gold before a disputed call left them with silver — a medal he and his teammates never accepted.
"Never, never have I ever been bitter," Collins said. "The thought of being bitter, when I got eight years in the NBA, that would be very selfish on my part. ... I've never lost sight of the fact that in 1968 I didn't start for my high school team and in 1972 and I'm playing in a gold medal game."
He went into coaching and guided Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls from 1986-89, and the Detroit Pistons from 1995-98. He coached Jordan again with the Washington Wizards from 2001-03. Collins was fired shortly after Jordan was denied a return to the front office.
Collins had coaching offers through the years, but told his family he would only return to Chicago or Philadelphia. His daughter and her family live in the Philadelphia suburbs, allowing him ample time to visit his grandchildren.
His summer has been stuffed with meeting his new players and learning their scouting reports. Collins is "text message buddies" with Marreese Speights, told Lou Williams he could be Philly's version of Jamal Crawford, and asked Iguodala to return from the world championships ready to lead the team and become an All-Star.
"We want these guys to have the thought process that things are going to change," Collins said.
It starts with Collins — and he can't wait to take them from losers to winners again.
-- Dan Gelston
NBA opens office in Moscow
MOSCOW (AP) — The NBA has opened an office in Russia, shortly after approving Mikhail Prokhorov as owner of the New Jersey Nets.
Deputy commissioner Adam Silver made the announcement Thursday, saying the league wanted to move closer to its fan base in Russia and Eastern Europe. Former NBC Universal executive Egor Borisov also was hired as vice president of development for the region.
The announcement came the day the U.S. beat Russia in the quarterfinals of basketball's world championship.
Prokhorov, a billionaire who became the NBA's first owner from outside North America, said he looks "forward to working together with the NBA to create more opportunities for boys and girls and students throughout Russia to become active basketball participants."
The NBA's Atlanta Hawks toured the Soviet Union in 1988, and Russian power CSKA Moscow will play three preseason games in the United States against NBA teams.
"This is a great time for the NBA to expand its presence in Russia, especially given Mikhail Prokhorov's commitment to further grow the sport in the country," Silver said in a statement.
The NBA now has offices in 16 worldwide markets.
Chicago Bulls add 4 assistants
DEERFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bulls have announced Ron Adams, Andy Greer, Rick Brunson and Adrian Griffin will serve assistant coaches on Tom Thibodeau's staff.
This will be the second stint in Chicago for Adams, a Bulls assistant from 2003-08 before spending the last year-and-a-half with Oklahoma City.
Griffin and Brunson are former Bulls players.
Griffin spent the last two years as an assistant coach/player development with Milwaukee after playing nine seasons. Brunson spent last season as an assistant at the University of Hartford after two years as a Virginia's director of basketball operations.
Greer has been an assistant with Memphis, Houston and New York.
The Bulls also announced Thursday that Pete Myers will serve as a scout and Randy Brown as a special assistant to general manager Gar Forman.
Wizards bring Midnight Madness to training camp
WASHINGTON (AP) — Midnight madness in the NBA?
The Washington Wizards are stealing an idea from the colleges. They announced Thursday that their first practice at training camp will start at midnight on the morning of Sept. 28.
The Wizards say that the event will have all the fanfare associated with the college version: an open practice for the fans with player introductions and prizes.
It will be the first training camp for the Wizards under new owner Ted Leonsis, whose innovative marketing helped bring in new fans to the NHL's Washington Capitals.
It's also the first training camp for the Wizards at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. The team wanted a venue closer to Washington after training in Richmond, Va., for six years.
Lakers VP Buss will dedicate court in Iowa
CARROLL, Iowa (AP) — Los Angeles Lakers vice president Jeanie Buss will visit Iowa to attend a ceremony and dedicate a basketball court 50 years after the team's emergency plane landing in Carroll.
Buss and former Lakers forward Tommy Hawkins on Sunday will attend the dedication of the new outdoor court built thanks to a $25,000 donation from the Lakers. The court is near the spot where a plane carrying the team touched down Jan. 18, 1960.
The plane was bringing the Lakers, then based in Minneapolis, back from a game in St. Louis in a blinding snowstorm. The lights and the radio went out soon after takeoff, and the pilots were forced to land in a cornfield in Carroll.
Harold Gifford, one of the co-pilots, also will attend the ceremony.
Barnes' fiance says domestic accusation false
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The fiance of Los Angeles Lakers player Matt Barnes says a domestic violence accusation against him is false, and he has never physically abused her or her family.
Gloria Govan made the comments in a statement issued Thursday.
Barnes was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of domestic violence after deputies responded to a disconnected 911.
Sacramento County sheriff's spokesman Tim Curran says when deputies went to the home that Barnes shares with Govan late Wednesday afternoon they found her with visible injuries. Curran says Barnes was arrested after deputies determined he was the primary aggressor.
Barnes, released after posting a $50,000 bond, is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 13.
WNBA
Dream defies odds to make WNBA finals in 3rd year
ATLANTA (AP) — For a team that endured so much losing its first season, maybe it's only appropriate that a defeat was the turning point for the Atlanta Dream on the way to the WNBA Finals.
Turn back to the final day of the regular season, when the Dream trailed Washington by 23 points heading to the fourth quarter.
The home crowd was grumbling. The players were embarrassed. The coaches couldn't figure out what to do.
Then, suddenly, something clicked.
"We were getting killed by Washington," team owner Kathy Betty recalled Thursday. "I saw that look in the fourth quarter that they had at the beginning of the season. That determination. If you watched it, you can see it.
"They were relentless. They wouldn't quit."
Atlanta didn't win that game, but it rallied to lose by a much more respectable score of 90-81. And the momentum for that game carried over to the playoffs, where the Dream have swept two straight series to reach the best-of-five championship against Seattle.
Game 1 is Sunday.
"Everyone knew we were not that bad," said Marynell Meadors, the team's coach and general manager. "The team knew that. They knew they had to do something about it, and they have.
"And," she added, "we're not done yet."
The Dream have undergone a remarkable, if somewhat rocky climb to earn a shot at becoming only the third major-league pro team in Atlanta to win a championship. The most recent was the 1995 Atlanta Braves, and even that team is known more for its playoff flops than its one title.
Atlanta's other championship team was the long-forgotten Chiefs, who won the inaugural title in the now-defunct North American Soccer League in 1968.
Iziane Castro Marques is from Brazil, but even she's aware of Atlanta's checkered sports history.
Titletown U.S.A., this ain't.
"I think the Braves won back in the day, right?" she said after a practice at Georgia Tech's campus gym. "I hope everyone is very proud of us. I hope they know we fight our (butts) off every day to get a championship in Atlanta."
A championship was the last thing on her mind after the Dream went 4-30 in its inaugural season. That team lost its first 18 games, many of them in gut-wrenching fashion.
"We were like, 'Come on, are we never going to win a game?'" said Castro Marques, one of only two players left from the 2008 squad. "It's not like they were all 20-point losses. We were always in there fighting, always in there trying to get that win. It just never happened. When we finally got that first win, it was such a relief."
Meadors knew she had to have some stars if she wanted to turn things around. She persuaded Chamique Holdsclaw, who had retired from the WNBA, to come back. Angel McCoughtry was taken with the first pick in the draft. Sancho Lyttle joined the Dream after Houston folded.
Atlanta had the greatest one-season turnaround in WNBA history last season, going 18-16 to make the playoffs. But they were swept in the first round.
Still, it should have been a momentum-building season.
Instead, the team's original owner ran into financial troubles. If someone didn't step up — which seemed unlikely to happen given the sorry state of the economy and a dip in attendance in Year 2 — the franchise was doomed.
"I was really concerned about us," Meadors said. "I knew we would have to find new ownership. If we didn't, we would fold. And that was sad. We were right on the brink."
Betty stepped up to buy the team, assuring it would return for a third season.
Then, two days before training camp, another setback: The mercurial Holdsclaw suddenly announced that she didn't want to play for the Dream anymore. She was waived, bringing back nothing in return.
"We were counting on her," Meadors aid. "That was really hard. Somehow or another, everyone else stepped up. It made our young players gain a lot of experience and confidence, Angel being one of them."
As has been the case so many times for this franchise, a bitter loss was turned into an advantage.
McCoughtry was handed the keys to team and thrived. She averaged 21.1 points a game during the regular season, and clinched the Eastern Conference finals with a WNBA playoff-record 42-point effort against the New York Liberty.
"I was going to have a real situation, because she was so good I couldn't keep her on the bench for any length of time," Meadors said. "A spot opened up for her and she's taken full advantage."
McCoughtry clearly relishes her starring role.
"Everybody is all pumped up about these little 42 points," she said. "The thing is, this is nothing new for me. I've been doing that since college (at Louisville). It's just that people never knew."
She then added, sounding very much like a true superstar, "Being a leader, not everybody is going to like you.
"Everybody doesn't like Kobe (Bryant). Everybody doesn't like LeBron (James). Everybody's got something to say. You've really got to have the mental state that some people are going to talk negative and some people are going to love you.
"It comes with the territory."
The Dream will be heavy underdogs against the Seattle Storm, who went 28-6 — six more wins than any other team in the league. But Atlanta keeps turning potential losses into wins.
On Thursday, the team learned that Game 3 of the finals will be held at Philips Arena instead of an arena in suburban Gwinnett County. Officials worked out a scheduling conflict, allowing the Dream to play one more game at their regular home. (Game 4, if necessary, would be in the suburbs).
"We are moving up," Meadors said with a big smile.
-- Paul Newberry
College Men
First 4 games of March Madness to be in Dayton, Ohio
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The University of Dayton will host all four first-round games of the newly expanded men's basketball tournament next March, the NCAA said Thursday.
Two games will match the tournament's lowest seeds, Nos. 65 through 68, with the winners advancing as No. 16 seeds to play a top seed. The other two games will match the last four of the 37 at-large qualifiers.
The 68-team field will be announced March 13, with first-round games taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, March 15-16.
The "First Four" format had been the last undecided question after the NCAA's much-debated decision to expand its marquee event. The NCAA announced in April that it would add three teams to the field, the first expansion since the tournament went from 64 teams to 65 in 2001.
Dayton, Ohio, has hosted the early "play in" game every year since then.
Gene Smith, athletic director at Ohio State and the new chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee, cited the sizable crowds over the past decade in picking Dayton to host the inaugural First Four. The NCAA did not commit to holding the first four games in Dayton beyond 2011.
"We explored different options, including playing the first-round games at multiple sites as well as the possibility of playing all games on one day, but we came to the conclusion that Dayton is the best location to host all four games for the 2011 tournament," he said. "Moving forward, we will conduct a thorough evaluation, as we do with all rounds of the championship, with the student-athlete experience being our top priority."
The NCAA decided against a larger expansion to 80 or even 96 teams. It settled on 68 and its new 14-year, $10.8 billion television package with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting not only ensures that every game will be televised but gives the NCAA sole authority to expand again.
All four First Four games will be broadcast on Turner's truTV cable channel.
The at-large teams will be seeded where they would normally be placed in the bracket, meaning a first-round game between two No. 10 seeds would result in the winner advancing to play a No. 7 seed. There was concern that the winners will have an advantage in the second round, having already played and won, and committee members have acknowledged that some big-name teams could be ousted early.
AP source: NCAA investigating Vols basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl and an assistant have been contacted by the NCAA about possible recruiting violations, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The NCAA is looking into possible excessive contact with recruits, the person told The Associated Press on Thursday night on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, which was first reported by recruiting website Volquest.com. The NCAA has also talked with Vols associate head coach Tony Jones.
Tennessee spokesman Jimmy Stanton says the university has not received official notification from the NCAA of a formal investigation.
"We have not received a letter of inquiry from the NCAA," Stanton said. "Upon receipt of such a letter, we would release it publicly."
The NCAA has also interviewed current and former Tennessee football coaches and recruits as part of a separate investigation into possible allegations under former coach Lane Kiffin. The university has not received a formal letter of inquiry from the NCAA about that investigation either.
It's more negative attention for Tennessee, which saw four basketball players arrested on gun and drug charges in January and two football players arrested in July following a massive bar brawl.
-- Beth Rucker
IUPUI to play twice at Conseco in 2010-11
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The IUPUI men's basketball team will play two games at Conseco Fieldhouse this season.
School officials announced Thursday that the Jaguars will host in-state rival IPFW at the Pacers home court Feb. 3. The Mastodons are coached by former Hoosiers player Dane Fife.
IUPUI will also play at the fieldhouse Feb. 5 or Feb. 6 against defending Summit League champ Oakland, Mich. The Oakland game is tentatively set for a 1:30 p.m. tip-off Feb. 6, but that is Super Bowl Sunday, and the game could be switched to Saturday.
With these two games, the Jags will have played eight times at Conseco Fieldhouse since 2008.
IUPUI is coming off of a 25-11 season and winning its first postseason game since moving to Division I.
-- Michael Marot
