Tournament favorite United States takes on Angola, while Russia will meet New Zealand in two matches of round of last 16 matches of the 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship in Istanbul on Monday.
Coming to the tournament with the heavy favorite tag, the United States lived up to expectations with winning all five matches in the tournament, but it remains to be seen whether Americans’ young guns can maintain their record in the elimination rounds or not.
The United States came to Turkey without its National Basketball Association stars such as Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, or Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. However, Kevin Durant played the role of leading star so well so far, and other US players played their role good enough to strengthen their team’s prospects in the 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship.
The United States, who has a perfect record, will not underestimate Angola when the take on the African champions on Monday.
"We need to be ready for Angola because in the next stage, if we don't win, we don't win it (the championship)," said coach Mike Krzyzewski.
As the importance of games increases, stars such as Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant can expect to see more action, with the player averaging 17.8 points a game during the group stage.
The U.S. wasn't sharp in its final two games of group play, but guard Chauncey Billups compared those match-ups against Iran and Tunisia to an NBA team taking it easy in its final two regular-season games before the playoffs.
"That's over with now, and now we can get to the meat and potatoes," Billups said.
The Americans are expected to get to the semifinals.
“When it comes to basketball, people expect us to win and play well all the time and win every tournament, win every game," center Lamar Odom said. "And basketball's played all over the world now, there's a balance of talent spread throughout the world."
Angola finished fourth in Group A. The perennial African champions lost all five games at the 2008 Olympics, where the U.S. beat them 97-76, but bounced back to advance to the knockout stage for the second straight time in the world championship.
"We know we are going to play a tough and athletic Angola team that played us really well in the Olympics two years ago," guard Stephen Curry said. "We're going to be ready."
Russia has slipped since its surprising European championship in 2007, while New Zealand has Kirk Penney, the tournament's second-leading scorer with 25.4 points per game.
New Zealand took the third spot in Group D with a 82-70 win over France on the final day of the group stage. Following a bright start of three wins in the tournament, France lost its pace and finally had to settle for the fourth spot.
Interestingly, New Zealand needed at least a 12-point win over France to take third spot in the group, and that deficit was provided with a three-pointer that came in the final 10 seconds of the match.
Similarly, on the final day of the groups, Russia beat Greece to take the second spot in Group C. However, the Greeks were accused of losing the match on purpose, trying to avoid a possible future match-up with the United States.
TalkBasket website quoted Russian team coach David Blatt as saying: “The Greeks should be ashamed. What we saw was comedy, not basketball. Greeks shot to miss, on the other hand my players played with passion.”
Russia should be happy since Greeks later met Spain, while Russia has an opponent that it can match up better.
China will tackle undefeated Lithuania for a place in the world basketball championships quarterfinals on Tuesday, but their slim hopes have been hit further by an injury to star player Yi Jianlian.
The Washington Wizards forward is suffering from an Achilles injury and sat out China's 87-40 mauling at the hands of Turkey in their last group game on Thursday.
China coach Bob Donewald said Yi will need an MRI scan to discover the extent of the injury although the 22-year-old has time on his side with the last 16 clash not scheduled until Tuesday.
Perfect Argentina will play Brazil for the final ticket to the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
