U.S. advances in AmeriCup
RECIFE, Brazil — Halftime took two days, which was about the only challenging part for the U.S. in its final game of group play at the AmeriCup tournament.
Everything else seemed easy.
Craig Sword scored 19 points, Anthony Lamb added 15, and the U.S. rolled into the AmeriCup quarterfinals by topping Venezuela 101-49 in a game that started Sunday, was interrupted because of leaks caused by rain, then resumed 48 hours later — with both teams playing a separate game in between.
“Definitely a first for me,” Lamb said.
The U.S. lead was 48-21 when play was stopped Sunday; the Americans then beat Panama on Monday, while Venezuela defeated Mexico. And on Tuesday, to win a threeteam tiebreaker atop Group C with Mexico and Venezuela, all the U.S. needed was to finish off a victory by seven points.
The Americans won by 52 instead.
For the U.S., the 52point margin was its biggest in an AmeriCup game since a 123-59 victory over the Virgin Islands in 2007.
Giannis shines at EuroBasket
The stars showed up at EuroBasket on Tuesday in a big way.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 41 points in 27 minutes for Greece, Luka Doncic had 36 points for Slovenia and two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 29 points for Serbia — three of the world’s best players all leading their teams to big group-stage wins at the European championships.
There’s one more group-stage game left for each to play, and then a trip to Berlin awaits since Greece, Slovenia and Serbia have all clinched spots in the 16-team knockout round that begins Saturday.
Antetokounmpo’s point total was the most in a EuroBasket game since Dirk Nowitzki had 43 for Germany in 2001.