Team USA wins but Turkey proves tough bird

They figured it would be simple, that they would just beat up on Turkey the way they did Finland a night earlier.

Instead, the Americans were the ones on the ropes for nearly three quarters.

"I guess we felt like last night's game was pretty easy and tonight was going to be the same way, but Turkey came out and they gave us their punch from the beginning," forward James Harden said. "We took it and we were sluggish. That second half we played a lot better."

Kenneth Faried had 22 points, Anthony Davis scored all of his 19 in the second half and the U.S. squad rebounded from a rare halftime deficit to beat Turkey, 98-77, yesterday in the Basketball World Cup.

A night after crushing Finland by 59 in its biggest rout ever while using NBA players in the former world championship, the Americans couldn't take control against Turkey until early in the fourth quarter after compiling a 17-1 run.

"I think we didn't come ready to play in the first half and we can't afford to do that if we want to win a gold medal," Davis said. "So we've got to come out ready to play no matter who we're playing against."

The Americans trailed 40-35 at halftime and Turkey led by six early in the third before the Americans finally got the game into the quicker tempo they prefer and pulled away to win the rematch of the 2010 gold-medal game in Istanbul.

But it was a much tougher one than expected after the Americans hammered Finland, 114-55, and Turkey was outplayed by New Zealand for most of its opener before pulling out the victory.

Harden had 14 points for the United States and Kyrie Irving added 13, playing extended minutes in the second half while struggling Derrick Rose sat.

It was tied at 59 with 3:10 left in the third before the Americans closed the quarter with a 7-1 burst and took a 66-60 lead on Faried's basket. The U.S. then ran off 10 in a row to open the fourth and went ahead 76-60.

The Americans haven't lost since the semifinals of the 2006 world championship, and outside of their victories over Spain in the last two Olympic gold-medal games, haven't been in danger much since then.

But they needed a long time to start looking like the team that is considered the tournament favorite by so many.

Said Turkey's Ender Arslan, "Before the game we talked about trying to keep the tempo low, in fact slow down the game, and we did it very well first half. I think actually three quarters we did it very well. But after, physically United States team is great, they played 40 minutes . . . so we get a little bit tired after third quarter and they still played at the same level."

Team USA beat Turkey, 81-64, four years ago to win gold, and though the Turks have eight players remaining from that team, they no longer have their best player, Hedo Turkoglu, or fellow NBA veteran Ersan Ilyasova.

Yesterday, it was 16-all after one. Turkey controlled the tempo in the second quarter, getting to the foul line as the Americans showed moments of frustration with the pace and some calls that went against them. Baris Hersek and Emir Preldzic made consecutive three-pointers late in the half to give Turkey a 38-32 lead.

Unable to force the turnovers or missed shots to get their transition game going, the Americans looked ordinary in the half-court.

The Americans are off today before continuing pool play tomorrow against winless New Zealand.