SAITAMA, Japan - US stars know they must improve
to beat Greece on Friday and qualify for Sunday's World Basketball Championship
final, where either 2004 Olympic champion Argentina or title-hungry Spain will
await.
All four undefeated teams have set the stage for a dramatic curtain call to
the 24-nation showdown, with perennial powers set to be tested by a US squad of
National Basketball Association stars that has appeared vulnerable at times.
"You can't help but notice that Greece, Spain and Argentina have been playing
some great games as well," US forward Elton Brand said.
The Americans overcame poor shooting in the first half to defeat Germany in a
quarter-final test but such a slow start against the European champion Greeks
could doom the Americans' goal of reclaiming the global basketball throne.
"We know the stakes are getting higher and that we are going to have to play
a lot better," US guard Kirk Hinrich said. "To beat Greece were going to have to
have our best performance."
The US team relies upon pressure defense to set a tempo and force turnovers,
giving them the confidence that their own performance is a deciding factor.
"We control our destiny," US scoring leader Carmelo Anthony said. "If we go
out there and play good, the sky is the limit. If we go out there and play bad,
anything can happen."
The latter is what Greece's Theodoros Papaloukas is counting upon.
Papaloukas was Most Valuable Player of last year's European final and of the
European league's finals with champion CSKA Moscow. Now he wants to complete a
championship treble and bring the Greeks their first medal in a global event.
"Our desire for a medal is very big. We won the European championship last
year and my club won the Eurobasket title and now I want to have this success,"
he said.
"This is why you live. Money and success is great, but this, this is
something special."
It's special for the Americans, too, after their sixth-place finish in the
2002 worlds and only a bronze medal at Athens, where US superstar LeBron James
was on the bench for most of the US 2004 Greek tragedy.
"Its going to be a tough game, so we have to come out with our A-plus game,"
James said. "They have been together for a long time. We must maintain our
focus. Go out and win and take care of business."
That means improving upon the 38 percent accuracy rate against Germany.
"Well shoot all right on Friday and hopefully on Sunday," said US coach Mike
Krzyzewski. "I have every confidence in the world about that."
Expect the Argentina-Spain game to bring drama as well. The Spaniards have
not managed a global podium finish since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics but they
have won 16 games in a row and beat Argentina twice in tournament tuneup games.
"We have a great opportunity and we're going to take advantage. We're going
to try and make history," Spain guard Juan Carlos Navarro said.
"No one is invincible."
Argentina will make a history bid as well. The South American have not won
the world title since taking the inaugural 1950 event with a home-court edge.
"We have to play a perfect game," said Argentina scoring leader Emanuel
Ginobili of the NBA San Antonio Spurs. We have to play excellent defense and be
aggressive on offense."
Argentina's average win margin has been 24 points and with several NBA
players they will be tough for any team to stop.
"It's not as easy as we made it look," Ginobili said. "It's great pride for
us after the winning the Olympics to do so well. Everyone is confident. We're
playing well but it doesn't mean we're better than Spain, Greece or America."
Spain coach Pepu Hernandez is confident as well.
"The one who wants to beat us will have to play a real good game," he said.
"Maybe they can beat us. But it's going to be difficult."
