US NBA stars rout Slovenia to advance at world basketball
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Dwyane Wade scored 20 points and the United States clinched a berth in the playoff rounds of the World Basketball Championship with a 114-95 victory over Slovenia.
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ATHENS, Greece - Lamar Odom made a key defensive play on Greece's Dimitris Pipanikoulaou, preventing him from getting a clean layup attempt that could have cut the United States' lead to two points, and the Americans won 77-71 Tuesday night in the second round of the Olympic men's basketball tournament.    In a much closer game than expected, the Americans bounced back from their embarrassing loss to Puerto Rico in their opener and avoided dropping to 0-2, which would have matched their loss total from the previous 68 years...
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A confident American team enters the playoff rounds of the World Basketball Championship on an impressive run but some familiar faces are blocking the US path to reclaiming the global throne.
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With Kobe Bryant joining LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in the starting lineup, the Americans figured to look impressive in the opener of the Olympic qualifying tournament.
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ATHENS - The US men have a basketball medal, but there is little consolation in the prize. Third place fell a couple of steps short of expectations, but the Americans had nowhere else to go Saturday in what
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Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins each scored 19 points as the Los Angeles Lakers overcame the absence of Kobe Bryant and coach Rudy Tomjanovich post a 92-79 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
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One day Carmelo Anthony leads the U.S. in scoring. The next game it's Dwyane Wade's turn. Wade scored 26 points Sunday night to lead the U.S. to a 121-90 rout of Yao Ming and China, the Americans' second victory in as many games at the FIBA world championships.
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Pau Gasol, the Memphis Grizzlies' 7-foot center, had 25 points and 9 rebounds and Spain used another impressive performance to beat Lithuania, 89-67, yesterday and advance to the semifinals of the FIBA World Championships at Saitama, Japan.
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End of American basketball supremacy. Argentina 89, US 81. Semifinal loss means NBA stars will play for bronze. &quot;We tried as hard as we could,&quot; US Dream Team member Allen Iverson said after loss.
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Mike Krzyzewski wanted to be absolutely clear: This was just practice. To Carmelo Anthony, it was a little more than that. When the United States and Puerto Rico met Tuesday night for a scrimmage, it was the first time the teams were together since the Puerto Ricans routed the Americans 92-73 during preliminary round play at the 2004 Olympics.
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Bronze is the best the American men can do in basketball, and the reason is simple: A hastily assembled assortment of NBA stars couldn't beat a better team &#151; Argentina. Manu Ginobili scored 29 points to lead his nation to another victory over the country that used to dominate the sport, an 89-81 win in the Olympic semifinals Friday night.
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US stars know they must improve to beat Greece on Friday and qualify for Sunday's World Basketball Championship final, where either 2004 Olympic champion Argentina or title-hungry Spain will await.
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Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points, Eduardo Najera outworked Minnesota's post players for a double-double, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Timberwolves 106-92 on Friday night.
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After a slow start to the season  Kobe Bryant pushed into high gear on Thursday, pouring in 52  points to help the Los Angeles Lakers crush the Utah Jazz  132-102.
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Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points and the United States withstood their first tough test of the World Basketball Championship to beat Italy 94-85 and clinch a top playoff seed.
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Zydrunas Ilgauskas picked up 30 points and LeBron James added 25 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to help the Cleveland Cavaliers pound the Los Angeles Lakers 103-89 Sunday.
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Stephon Marbury scores 31 points, and the U.S. finally finds its range in a 102-94 victory against Spain in the quarterfinals.