James leads U.S. to FIBA crown

Associated Press

September 3, 2007

LAS VEGAS - LeBron James put a record finish on the Americans' dominance in the desert.

James scored a team-record 31 points, and the United States beat Argentina, 118-81, last night to win the FIBA Americas championship.

Dwight Howard made all seven of his shots and scored 20 points, and Carmelo Anthony (Towson Catholic) added 16 points for the Americans, who were never challenged while winning 10 games in 12 days and will head to Beijing next summer as one of the gold medal favorites. The Americans averaged 116.7 points in the tournament.

The game was largely meaningless, because both teams had already clinched spots in the Beijing field by winning semifinal games Saturday. But the Americans didn't let up.

Without Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto, Andres Nocioni and Walter Herrmann, the defending Olympic champions didn't have nearly enough to keep up with the Americans here. James finished the tournament shooting 76 percent from the field - his percentage actually dropped from 76.5 after he made 11 of 15 shots. He was 8-for-11 from three-point range and also led the tournament in that category, hitting 62 percent.

E-mail

Reprint

Get home delivery of The Sun and save over 50% off the newsstand price

James leads U.S. to FIBA crown

Online resources

Going deep

Going deep Sun sports special reports and in-depth coverage
	> 1983 O's > Football: The tie that binds > Orioles > Baltimore Colts > Going deep: Other sports

James leads U.S. to FIBA crown

Related topic galleries: Andres Nocioni, LeBron James, Dwight Howard

Popular stories: Sports

Poll: Is Phelps the greatest Olympian ever?

Online resources

Going deep