Latest Results
US crush Iran as Angola shock Germany
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-09-02 09:56
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ISTANBUL - World championship favourites the US made it four wins out of four with an 88-51 victory over Iran on Wednesday while Angola booked a place in the last 16 with a stunning 92-88 overtime defeat of Germany.
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 Tyson Chandler of the US slam dunks against Iran during their FIBA Basketball World Championship game in Istanbul, September 1, 2010. [Agencies]
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Serbia also reached the knockout rounds with a match to spare after a 94-79 victory over Australia and holders Spain avoided an early exit, overcoming a poor start to demolish Lebanon 91-57.
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Iran held their own in the first half and trailed by 14 points at the interval but the gulf in class was all too obvious after the break, with all 12 players on the US roster getting on the scoresheet.
"We held our opponents for a long period and it was only in the last seven minutes we ran out of steam," Iran's Serbian coach Veselin Matic said.
"This is our first world championship and all this entertainment was good for us, it helped motivate my players to be at their best."
The teams applauded the fans and embraced each other after the match and Matic's US counterpart Mike Krzyzewski praised Iran, whose centre Hamad Ehadadi finished as the game's top scorer with 19 points and five rebounds.
"The Iran team played really hard and had a really good game plan," he said.
Centre Tyson Chandler added: "It was a very good game and we had a lot of respect for each other."
Centre Kevin Love led the United States with 13 points, forward Kevin Durant added 12, guard Derrick Rose chipped in with 11 and Danny Granger scored 10 in a balanced team effort.