US top Czechs 88-67 to ‘open’ World Cup
Australia hold off Canada in wild World Cup opener
SHANGHAI, Sept 1, (Agencies): Donovan Mitchell scored 16 points and Harrison Barnes added 14 to lead Team USA to an 88-67 win over the Czech Republic in the opening game of the FIBA World Cup on Sunday in Shanghai, China.
Boston Celtics teammates Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum combined for 20 points in the first half to help the United States take a 43-29 lead at halftime after a tight first quarter.
Walker finished with 13 points and Tatum with 10.
Tomas Satoransky of the Chicago Bulls led the Czechs in scoring with 17.
The Americans lack the star-studded roster of years past, but Team USA worked well together on Sunday, despite just five exhibition games as a group. One of those games was a four-point loss to Australia that snapped the Americans’ 78-game international win streak that dated back to 2006.
The US held the Czechs to just a 40.6 shooting percentage, including 35 percent in the first half. The Americans shot 49.3 percent from the floor and were 10of-26 from 3-point range -- an improvement from the 2-for-14 performance in the final tune-up against Canada.
Coach Gregg Popovich rotated players in and out to keep them fresh, using 10 players in the first half.
The Americans will meet Turkey in the second of their three pool games on Tuesday night. The Turks, a winner over Japan in their opening-round game, feature three NBA players: Cedi Osman, Ersan Ilyasova and Furkan Korkmaz.
Greece 85, Montenegro 60 Giannis Antetokounmpo stole the ball at one end, dribbled behind his back around mid-court, kept going and took off from just below the foul line before unleashing a dunk.
The NBA MVP sent a message on Sunday. So did his team.
Turning it into a rout by halftime, Greece opened its World Cup schedule with an easy 85-60 victory over Montenegro in Group F at Nanjing. Antetokounmpo had 10 points and eight rebounds in only 16 minutes.
It was 42-16 at the half. Big minutes were not required.
“It was a great win today,” Antetokounmpo said. “A lot of guys played well. I think coach did a great job managing
United States’ Harrison Barnes (left), keeps the ball from Czech Republic’s Ondrej Balvin during a Group E match for the FIBA Basketball World Cup
at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai on Sept 1. (AP)
Matthew Dellavedova scored 24 points, and the Australians opened the fourth quarter on a huge run to pull away and beat Canada 108-92 in a Group H opener.
“Good to start the tournament with a win,” Australia’s Chris Goulding said. “Our first half, we showed we can do some really good stuff.”
Goulding scored 16, Patty Mills had 15 and Joe Ingles finished with 13 points and nine assists for Australia. Andrew Bogut added 12 points on 6 for 7 shooting, plus grabbed nine rebounds, and Aron Baynes scored 10 for the winners.
Khem Birch scored 18 for Canada, and Cory Joseph had 16.
Australia led 52-40 at the half, but Canada roared out of the gate in the third quarter on a 25-7 run over the first 5:20. That put Canada up 65-59, and seemed to put the Australians on the ropes. The Boomers rallied. Canada’s lead was 77-76 going into the fourth quarter, but the last 10 minutes were all Australia. An 8-0 run by the Aussies put them on top to stay, and they wound up outscoring the Canadians 28-6 over the first 8:44 of the final period.
Turkey’s Furkan Korkmaz tries to score past Japan’s Yuta Watanabe during a Group E match for the FIBA Basketball World Cup at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in
Shanghai on Sept 1. (AP)
The loss put Canada in a likely mustwin scenario against Lithuania on Tuesday.
“I thought the start wasn’t very good for us, I didn’t think the end was very good and I think the middle was excellent,” Canada coach Nick Nurse said. “We didn’t seem to be catching many breaks or the ball bouncing our way early, but we regrouped and after halftime we came out and put a heck of a third quarter together.”
It was the sixth straight World Cup loss for Canada; the Canadians went 0-5 at the world championships in 2010 and didn’t qualify for the tournament in 2014.
France 78, Germany 74 At Shenzhen, France opened the game on a 21-4 run and held on to beat Germany behind 26 points from Evan Fournier.
Johannes Voigtmann scored 25 points and Dennis Schroder had 23 for Germany in the Group G opener.
Lithuania 101, Senegal 47 At Dongguan, Lithuania had seven players in double figures and held Senegal to 29% shooting in a Group H opener. Domantas Sabonis, Jonas Valanciunas and Mantas Kalnietis each had 13 points to lead the winners.
Turkey 86, Japan 67 At Shanghai, Turkey got its Group E schedule started with a wire-to-wire win over Japan behind 17 points apiece from Ersan Ilyasova and Melih Mahmutoglu. Rui Hachimura scored 15 points for Japan, as did Nick Fazekas. Dominican Republic 80, Jordan 76 At Shenzhen, Victor Liz scored 15 points to lead the Dominican Republic to a Group G win. Ahmad Al Dwairi had 34 points and 10 rebounds for Jordan, which got 24 points from Dar Tucker. Jordan was down by 16 points late in the third quarter, then pulled into a 64-64 tie early in the fourth after a 22-6 run. Jordan took a pair of one-point leads late, but the Dominicans finished on a 7-2 run.
Brazil 102, New Zealand 94 At Nanjing, Brazil outscored New Zealand 28-12 in the third quarter and held on to win a Group F opener. Leandro Barbosa led Brazil with 22 points. Corey Webster scored 19 for New Zealand.