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Friday, August 3
Boozer, Bell get U.S. off to strong start
Associated Press
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SAITAMA, Japan -- Duke forward Carlos Boozer led the way with 18 points Friday as the United States defeated Croatia 88-69 on the opening day of the World Basketball Championship for Young Men.
Boozer keyed an 11-point run with seven points as the Americans took charge early in the final quarter, opening up a 68-50 lead at the 20,000-seat Saitama Super Arena, northwest of Tokyo.
|  | | Jameer Nelson drives around a Croatian defender in Team USA's victory Friday. |
"He's a key player for us," said coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse. "We've been trying to get him to be more aggressive and I thought he did a tremendous job for us both on offense and defense."
Guard Troy Bell of Boston College also had a strong game with 15 points.
"We've only been together for two games so we just wanted to come out and play solid defense," said Bell.
The United States opened up a 10-point lead midway through the third quarter and led by seven heading into the final 10 minutes. The lead would have been greater if not for a three-pointer by Croatia's Srdan Subotic just before the buzzer.
The Americans held a 36-33 halftime lead at the half courtesy of six straight points by Bell in the last minute of the second quarter.
"I think what started everything in the second half was our defense. We came in at halftime and said we had to pick up our defense and we went out
there and got stops and got easy layups and that's something we're going to have to do throughout the tournament," said Boozer.
"This is a great experience. We're playing against different teams from different countries
and they all have different styles of play. It's a good first experience,
but we have to keep building and learning and we'll get better."
Despite making just 1 of 11 3-pointers, the Americans still managed to shoot 54.5 percent (36-66) from the field, and held a slight edge on the glass
outrebounding Croatia 36 to 35. Forcing Croatia into 19 turnovers, the USA recorded 10 steals in the win.
All 12 U.S. players scored, and in addition to Boozer's 18 points and Bell's 15, the USA
offense was aided by Nick Collison's 12 points and Reggie Evans' 10. Collison led Team USA rebounding with six boards.
The USA will faces South Korea on Saturday and then plays Argentina on Sunday. The team then concludes preliminary play against Israel on Aug. 8. Tournament
quarterfinals play gets underway Aug. 10, with semifinals being conducted Aug. 11 and the medal games being held Aug. 12. The top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals.
In other Group B games Friday, Yaniv Green had 18 points and Afik Nisim added 16 as Israel downed South Korea 95-69 while Argentina outplayed the host nation en route to a 93-56 victory.
In Group A, Roberto Morentin scored 19 points as Spain defeated the Dominican Republic 97-64.
David Anderson was 10-for-19 from the field and had 13 rebounds as defending champion Australia cruised to an 87-67 win over Egypt. Slovenia trounced Qatar 79-49 in Friday's other Group A game.
This is the third world championship for young men. The inaugural tournament took place in Spain in 1993 and was won by the United States.
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