and take a 42-27 lead at half- time.
At the midway point, the
USA actually was shooting bet- ter from 3-point (.429) than from inside the arc (.400), and it when on to finish the game shooting 46.6 percent from the field (34-73 FGs) and 44.8 percent from 3-point (13-29 3pt FGs). The USA’s 15-point, 42-27
halftime lead quickly ballooned to 27 points (57-30) after a score from Irving and Curry’s 11 straight points from 7:12 to 4:15. Cousins had the next nine points for the USA, and then a score by Gay helped the USA take a command- ing 66-38 lead at the third-quarter break. The U.S. defense gave up just 11 points in the stanza. “Our defense – that’s going to
win us games,” Harden said. “We’re so talented offensively. Defensively if we can just click and make sure we’re on the same page for the most part, we’ll be pretty good.”
USA 119, Slovenia 76 While the U.S. lead over
The USA led by as many as 12
points late in the second quarter, but again Slovenia responded in the final minutes and worked its way back to within seven points to trail 49-42 at halftime.
After Slovenia scored the first points
of the second half, the USA launched an 8-0 run, which was the first of three 8-0 spurts for the U.S. in the third quarter. The USA apparently left its shooting woes in the locker room as it shot 14-of-23 from the field (.609) and 3-of-4 from 3-point (.750) in the period.
With a 22-point lead (86-64)
heading into the final quarter, the USA had firm control of the game, and it con- tinued to push the pace and find easy looks at the rim, outscoring Slovenia 33-12. All 12 U.S. players scored in the game and all 12 recorded at least five minutes played.
USA 119, Slovenia 76 September 9, 2014
Kenneth Faried was named to the five-player All-World Cup Team after shooting 63.4 percent from the field and recording 12.4 points and a USA team-high 7.8 rebounds in his nine starts.
Slovenia was just 49-42 at the midway point of the quarterfinals game, the sec- ond half was all USA. Riding a game- changing 37-22 third quarter, the Americans pulled away for with a 119- 76 win. The win advanced the USA team into the semifinals of the 2014 FIBA World Cup. “It’s always an honor to play
against Slovenia; so well coached, and I think as good of a perimeter as anybody in these two pools,” said Krzyzewski. “With (the) Dragics (Goran and Zoran) and (Domen) Lorbek you have three of the really outstanding players in the whole tournament. So, we knew it would be a tough game.” While Thompson led six players
with 20 points, 12 of Harden’s 14 points came in the third quarter, which saw the USA force Slovenia into eight of its 25 turnovers. Overall, 42 of the USA’s points were scored on a fast-break opportunity and 40 were scored off of turnovers. The USA also set a U.S. Men’s World Cup record with 92 field goal attempts. The previous high was 88 field goal attempts
USA Basketball News
against Russia on Aug. 14, 1994. “Our guards really got everybody
involved and then we got loose balls, which, you get loose balls and you score 40 points off turnovers, your offense looks good,” Krzyzewski said. “Forty points off turnovers is a lot of points.” Faried added 14 points and 10
rebounds; Davis finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots; Irving had 12 points and four steals; and Rose contributed 12 points and a game- high five assists. Davis and Faried combined for 10 of
the USA’s 23 offensive rebounds, which led to 31 second-chance points. The USA started the game shooting
a dismal 2-of-14 from the field (.143) and finished the quarter at 30.0 percent (9-30 FGs), but it collected 14 offensive boards to help combat its icy shooting. With the USA leading 26-15 after a 7-0 run, Slovenia, helped by five made free throws, cut the deficit to 29-22 at the first break. In his seven minutes played in the first quarter, Faried tallied eight points and six rebounds.
USA Curry Faried Irving
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 17 2- 9 2- 2 123 6 20 5- 9 4- 5 10 11 14 22 5- 9 1- 1 431 12
Harden 26 4-14 4- 5 532 14 Davis
Thompson 28 7-12 2- 4 323 20 Rose Gay
21 5-11 3- 4 11 12 13 18 6-10 0- 0 351 12
DeRozan 9 3- 3 0- 0 202 6 Plumlee
14 2- 3 1- 2 422 7 6 2- 3 0- 1 210 4
Cousins 13 4- 5 1- 3 515 9 Drummond 6 1- 4 0- 0 000 2 Totals 200 46-92 18-27 53 21 22 119
SLO
Slokar Zupan
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 14 3- 5 0- 0 213 7 16 1- 5 0- 2 114 2
G. Dragic 29 6-15 0- 0 444 13 Z. Dragic 28 4-12 1- 2 502 11 Lorbek
Balazic 31 3- 8 2- 4 612 9 Nikolic
Prepelic 13 2- 2 4- 4 112 9 Muric Blazic
24 5- 8 1- 3 622 12 4 0- 1 0- 0 001 0 10 2- 3 2- 2 002 6
Klobucar 12 1- 4 0- 0 121 3 Omic
1 0- 0 0- 0 000 0 18 2- 3 0- 0 303 4
Totals 200 29-66 10-17 38 12 26 76 USA
Slovenia
29 20 37 33 -- 119 22 20 22 12 -- 76
3PT FGs-USA (9-19): Thompson 4-8, Gay 2-3, Harden 2-2, Irving 1-1, Curry 0-3, Rose 0-2; Slovenia (8-27): Z. Dragic 2-6, G. Dragic 1-5, Balazic 1-5, Lorbek 1-4, Klobucar 1-2, Slokar 1-1, Prepelic 1-1, Zupan 0-2, Nikolic 0-1; TO-USA 11, Slovenia 25; BLKS-USA 7, Slovenia 5; STLS-USA 12, Slovenia 1.
31
David Dow/NBAE/Getty Images
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