Daily NBA News September 02 2010
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In the political arena, Iran vs. the United States is a matchup that gets attention. In a basketball arena, not so much. "For me, it's a normal game," Iran captain Mahdi Kamrany said. The United States won it easily, earning a top seed in the knockout round of the world championship with an 88-51 victory Wednesday in the first meeting between the countries with a history of contentious.
Delonte West is returning to the Boston Celtics. The team announced Wednesday that it has signed the 6-foot-3 guard, who was suspended for the first 10 games of the 2010-11 season after pleading guilty to weapons charges in Maryland. West played his first three seasons with Boston before being traded to Seattle in 2007 in the deal that brought Ray Allen to the Celtics.
Nenad Krstic returned from a three-game suspension for a brawl and had a double-double in Serbia's 94-79 victory over Australia at the basketball world championship on Wednesday. Krstic scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds, Milos Teodosic added 19 points and Novica Velickovic contributed 18 points and nine rebounds for Serbia, which clinched a place in the single-elimination round.
Jaka Lakovic scored 20 points, hitting consecutive 3-pointers to halt a furious Brazil comeback, and Slovenia blew nearly all of a 17-point lead before holding on for an 80-77 victory Wednesday. Slovenia (3-1) took sole possession of second place in Group B, while Brazil (2-2) came up just short again after losing by two to the United States on Monday.
Now that the Denver Nuggets have their management team in place, they're developing a strategy to keep All-Star Carmelo Anthony in powder blue and gold. At his introductory news conference Tuesday, Masai Ujiri, the team's new vice president of basketball operations, said he's been in contact with Anthony and will meet with him soon. The Nuggets offered Anthony a three-year, $65 million extension through 2014, but if he rejects it, the team will have to consider trading the forward who has guided them to seven straight playoff berths.
Top-ranked Argentina won its fourth straight game at the basketball world championship by defeating winless Jordan 88-79. Luis Scola scored 30 points, his third straight game with 30 or more, and had 13 rebounds. Carlos Delfino added 18 points. Rasheim Wright had 22 for Jordan and Ayman Idais scored 20.
Host Turkey maintained its perfect record at the basketball world championship by narrowly beating Puerto Rico 79-77 Wednesday, despite trailing its rival in the first three quarters. Hidayet Turkoglu of Phoenix Suns led Turkey (4-0) with 16 points and Ersan Ilyasova of the Milwaukee Bucks had double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds as the host team pulled away in the last quarter. Puerto Rico led with seven points at 7:15 of the second quarter and finished it ahead 37-30. Turkey bounced in the middle of the third quarter but missed three back-to-back shooting opportunities. Semih Erden lowered the difference to one point from free throws with only two seconds remaining in the third quarter that ended 57-56 in favor of Puerto Rico. "We were hesitant to start with but we bounced back later and fought harder," said Erden.
Jonas Maciulis had 19 points and Linas Kleiza added 15 points as Lithuania beat France 69-55 Wednesday to clinch top spot in Group D at the basketball world championship. "It's a big step," Lithuanian coach Kestutis Kemzura said. "But all the interesting things are just starting." Lithuania (4-0) handed France (3-1) its first defeat and, after playing Lebanon (1-3) on Thursday, will face the fourth seed of Group C - likely Greece, Russia, China or Puerto Rico - in Istanbul on Tuesday. Nicholas Batum scored nine points in the first quarter as France jumped out to a 24-11 lead with an 11-0 run.
Tickets have gone on sale for the first regular-season NBA games in Europe. The New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors will play a pair of games at the O2 Arena in London on March 4-5. The NBA is planning a week of activities across Britain, including basketball clinics and 3-on-3 competitions. Nets guard Devin Harris says "everyone involved in bringing the games to London is excited about playing in one of the world's great cities." The NBA has been playing preseason games in London for several years. The Los Angeles Lakers will face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 4 in this year's installment of the league's European tour.
Sergey Monya scored 17 points and Sasha Kaun had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds as Russia beat China 89-80 Wednesday and moved into the second round of the basketball world championship. The victory, the second in as many days, left Russia with seven points in Group C. For China, it was the team's second loss in a row after falling to Puerto Rico 84-76 Tuesday. Wednesday's game had 18 lead changes and 10 ties, but Russia bounced back in the final minutes by scoring 12 points in a run to make it 87-75 with 1:53 to go. "They played great. . They had an outstanding game plan and pulled away down the stretch," China coach Bob Donewald said. "We had the lead and ran out of gas. We made a few mistakes and before you know it, it was over." China guard Sun Yue scored 19 points for China and Wang Shipeng added 16.
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