Las Vegas – The Americans made Athens look like ancient history.
Three years after its stunning loss in the Olympics, the United States smothered Puerto Rico in a 117-78 victory Tuesday night in the FIBA Americas tournament.
LeBron James scored 21 points and Carmelo Anthony added 17 for the Americans, who clinched a spot in Saturday’s semifinals – where a win would earn them a berth in the Beijing Olympics.
Puerto Rico handed the United States a 92-73 loss, its worst ever, in the 2004 Athens Games. Anthony, James and Amare Stoudemire were all in Greece and watched Carlos Arroyo and the rest of the Puerto Ricans torch the Americans with 56 percent shooting.
Team USA ended any hopes of a repeat with its latest sensational second quarter and remained unbeaten in this event, an Olympic qualifier. The Americans came in just about at the 117.6 points they were averaging coming into the game.
Team USA plays Uruguay today before closing second- round play Thursday night against follow unbeaten Argentina. But even with losses in those two games, the Americans still would be guaranteed a spot Saturday.
Arroyo fouled out in the third quarter Tuesday with 12 points – half his total that sparked the Olympic upset.
Team USA held the Puerto Ricans without a field goal for 6 1/2 minutes to open the second quarter, outscoring them 22-4 to turn an 11-point lead into a 48-19 bulge on Anthony’s 3-pointer with 3:47 remaining in the first half. Arroyo made a 3 about 20 seconds later, ending Puerto Rico’s 0-for-8 drought.
