Saitama, Japan – Once they realized they couldn’t shoot, the Americans knew they had to make sure Dirk Nowitzki couldn’t, either.
Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony scored 10 of his 19 points in the third quarter, when the U.S. finally took control with its pressure defense, and the Americans went on to beat Germany 85-65 on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the world championships.
The U.S. overcame its worst offensive performance of the tournament with one of its best defensive efforts, limiting Germany to 26 points in the second half and forcing Nowitzki to miss nine of his 12 shots.
“Dirk is unstoppable, so we tried to send in as many defenders as possible,” LeBron James said. “You’ve just got to contain a guy like that and hope he misses some shots. He only had 12 attempts so we know we did a good job.”
James added 13 points for the U.S., which broke away from a one-point halftime lead by using a flurry of steals and blocks to outscore Germany 16-2 over a nearly six-minute span in the third period.
The Americans (7-0) remained one of four unbeaten teams and advanced to face European champion Greece (7-0) Friday night in the semifinals. Greece beat France 73-56 earlier Wednesday.
Instead of looking like the team that came in averaging 109.3 points, the Americans looked like the ones who have come up short in recent years. They shot 37.6 percent (32-of-85) and were 10-of-40 from 3-point range. Anthony missed his first eight shots and was 2-of-12 in the first half.
But they kept it from being costly by pressuring Germany’s guards and preventing them from getting the ball to Nowitzki, who finished with 15 points.
United States 23 17 27 18 – 85
Germany 21 18 13 13 – 65
UNITED STATES
Battier 0-3 1-2 1, Anthony 7-19 2-3 19, Brand 2-7 2-2 6, James 6-10 0-0 13, Paul 4-11 0-0 9, Johnson 4-10 0-0 11, Hinrich 1-5 0-0 3, Wade 1-11 1-2 3, Bosh 4-5 1-1 10, Howard 2-2 4-5 8, Jamison 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 32-85 11-15 85.
GERMANY
Okulaja 6-7 3-3 15, Nowitzki 3-12 9-9 15, Femerling 2-2 0-0 4, Hamann 3-8 2-3 8, Greene 3-8 2-2 9, Demirel 0-1 0-0 0, Schultze 2-5 2-2 7, Garrett 1-5 0-0 2, Herber 1-2 0-0 3, Roller 0-3 2-2 2, Grunheid 0-0 0-0 0, Jagla 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 20-21 65.
3-point goals – United States 10-40 (Johnson 3-7, Anthony 3-9, Bosh 1-1, James 1-3, Hinrich 1-5, Paul 1-5, Brand 0-1, Jamison 0-1, Battier 0-3, Wade 0-5), Germany 3-13 (Herber 1-2, Schultze 1-3, Greene 1-5, Garrett 0-1, Nowitzki 0-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – United States 48 (Brand, Wade, Bosh 7), Germany 34 (Okulaja, Nowitzki 9). Assists – United States 15 (Wade 5), Germany 6 (Femerling 2). Total fouls – United States 23, Germany 17. A – 14,000.
Results, schedule13D
