US gather pace at Basketball World Cup on day of historic wins
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The United States' Austin Reaves dribbles past Greece's Nikos Rogkavopoulos during their Fiba World Cup match in Manila.
PHOTO: AFP
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MANILA – The United States gathered momentum with a win over Greece at the Basketball World Cup on Monday, while there were historic first victories for debutants South Sudan and Cape Verde.
Defending champions Spain, Serbia and a Luka Doncic-inspired Slovenia picked up their second wins of the tournament, while New Zealand and Cote d’Ivoire got off the mark.
The US faced a Greek side missing Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo in their second game in Manila, and they wasted little time in showing their quality in a 109-81 win.
“Our thought process every game is to wear the opponent down,” said head coach Steve Kerr.
“We’re 12-deep on our roster and we’re just trying to stay solid on every possession and really put pressure on the opponent.”
Austin Reaves led the US in scoring with 15 points, followed by Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards with 13 each.
The Americans were rewarded with impressive performances throughout the line-up, with the hard-working Josh Hart pulling down 11 rebounds.
“He brings that toughness, that effort, and he’s a different man. He goes out there and he’s relentless,” Brunson said of Hart, his teammate with the New York Knicks.
Antetokounmpo withdrew from Greece’s squad on the eve of the tournament, saying he was not ready to play after undergoing knee surgery in July.
The Greeks can still advance to the next round from Group C if they win their final group game against New Zealand, who beat Jordan 95-87 in overtime earlier.
“If we want to have a possibility to win the game against New Zealand, we’ve got to be more physical,” said Greece head coach Dimitris Itoudis.
Spain also made it two wins out of two, beating Brazil 96-78, while elsewhere in Group G, Cote d’Ivoire beat Iran 71-69.
In Group B, debutants South Sudan stunned China 89-69 for their first World Cup win, with the world No. 62-ranked team scoring 15 three-pointers.
South Sudan head coach Royal Ivey said his players “stuck to the game plan from the opening tip to the closing horn”.
“They were resilient, persistent, they had laser-like focus,” he said. “They played with emotion, they played with fight, they played with fire.”
Serbia beat Puerto Rico 94-77 to stay in control of the group, with Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic netting 17 points apiece.
In Group F, Cape Verde also pulled off their first World Cup win, beating Venezuela 81-75.
The smallest country ever to take part were down by 10 points early in the fourth quarter but took the lead with 57 seconds remaining.
In the other group F game, Doncic scored 34 points and had 10 rebounds and six assists as Slovenia beat Georgia 88-67. AFP
