Basketball: Nonchalant US stars warm up for Greece

SAITAMA - The United States nonchalantly swept aside Germany yesterday to set up a semifinal showdown with Greece at the world championships.

A high-energy third quarter sparked the US to an 85-65 victory over Germany after a misfiring first half in which the Americans' shooting touch completely deserted them.

The red-hot tournament favourites play Greece in the last four after the European champions eased past France 73-56 yesterday.

Olympic champions Argentina take on Spain in the other semifinal.

Carmelo Anthony led the US with 19 points and co-captain LeBron James added 13 as the US matched Argentina by making it seven wins out of seven in Japan.

However, the US flirted with disaster in the first half against Germany and took a narrow 40-39 lead into halftime after making just 14 of 44 shots from the floor.

"We missed some easy shots we're capable of making," said James. "But we never got down on ourselves and the same shots we missed in the first half we made in the second."

Anthony, meanwhile, expressed confidence that the US would end their six-year world and Olympic title drought in Japan.

"We control our own destiny," said the Denver Nuggets forward. "We go and play good, the sky's the limit."

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki had 15 points for Germany but spent much of the game in foul trouble after picking up his third personal with three minutes and four seconds left in the second quarter.

"In the second half they turned up the heat and it became increasingly difficult to execute our offence," said German coach Dirk Bauermann. "Some of our guys got on each other on the court and you can't have that."

Big men Antonis Fotsis and Lazaros Papadopoulos led unbeaten Greece with 14 points apiece but the Greeks will hardly have sent a shiver down the spines of the US team.

Greece shaded a scrappy first two quarters, Dimitris Diamantidis providing a rare highlight with an off-balance three at the buzzer to give his team a 34-24 halftime lead.

"We will be playing against the best players in the world," said Diamantidis, attempting to shift pressure on to the US team.

"We don't need to be nervous. It's easy for us."

Greek coach Panagiotis Yannakis was similarly upbeat.

"We showed we can control games," he said. "The players have put aside their egos for the team. I hope there is more happiness for us in the next few days."

France also fell to Greece with team leader Tony Parker among their ranks in last year's European semifinals.

Parker broke a finger in the run-up to the tournament and France lacked any sort of penetration against a physical Greek defence without the San Antonio Spurs guard.

"We were nervous. We were indisciplined and we were scared," French coach Claude Bergeaud fumed. "I was very surprised."

SEMIFINALS

US v Greece
Argentina v Spain

- REUTERS