Bkb: US cruises past Angola 89-53

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2004
Bkb: US cruises past Angola 89-53

By Alan Crosby

ATHENS, Aug 23 Reuters - The US men's basketball team got its first comfortable win
at the Olympic basketball tournament today, routing winless Angola 89-53 in their final
preliminary round game.

While nowhere near as one-sided as the 116-48 victory against Angola at the Barcelona
Games over players who had holes in their sneakers, the Americans needed a confidence
builder such as this to loosen up before the quarter-finals.

The three-times defending gold medallists showed no mercy after two humbling defeats
at the hands of Lithuania and Puerto Rico, jumping out to a 20 point lead at the half
and then stretching it in the second.

"We felt more comfortable out there today because we are getting better as a team,"

said forward Carlos Boozer, who had another solid game with 11 points and nine rebounds.

The US players have looked anything but comfortable on the Helleniko Indoor Arena court
throughout the Games.

They entered the tournament riding a 24-game winning streak, but promptly lost to the
Puerto Ricans before struggling to beat Australia and Greece.

They played better against Lithuania, only to lose in the end after failing to make
some key stops on defence.

Coach Larry Brown finally got the chance to use his entire bench, with Charlotte Bobcats
first round draft choice Emeka Okafor seeing his first action of the tournament while
stalwarts Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson played sparingly.

"In the tournament thus far it's been hard to give all the guys time," Brown said.

"The big advantage (we have) is if our bench comes through because I think we are much
deeper than the others."

Duncan still managed to lead the team in scoring with 15 points despite playing just
over 13 minutes. Valter Monteiro had 20 points for Angola.

Angola also made it easy for the Americans by playing a man-to-man defence nearly the
entire game after everyone else packed a tight zone and dared the US to shoot from the
outside.

"I don't anticipate us seeing any more man-to-man in the tournament," Brown said.

The US (3-2) must now wait for the results of two later games - Argentina-Italy and
Puerto Rico-Greece - before knowing who it will play in Thursday's quarter-finals.

REUTERS jds

KEYWORD: OLY BKB MEN US NIGHTLEAD

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