Team USA Roars Back to Defeat Russia

Filed under: Knicks, FIBA, USA Basketball, FIBA World Championship ISTANBUL -- Nearly four decades after a game against the Soviet Union provided the most heated situation in Team USA history, the Americans had a love fest against the Russians.

Well, it wouldn't have been one if they had lost.

Playing Thursday exactly 38 years to the day after the controversial loss to the Soviet Union in the 1972 Olympics, the Americans fell behind Russia by five points in the second quarter. But they came back for an 89-79 win at the Sinan Erdem Dome to advance to a FIBA World Championship semifinal Saturday against Lithuania.

Forward Kevin Durant led the Americans with 33 points, two shy of Carmelo Anthony's 2006 Team USA record for most points in a World Championship. Afterward, he was gracious toward the Russians.

Heck, everybody wearing red, white and blue was. And even though American center Lamar Odom was icing down a fat lip after the game, he pointed out it was an inadvertent shot he had taken.
Tomasson: Lithuania Not Scared of Team USA
The Works: Coach K's Cold War | FIBA Worlds Schedule
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