SAN JUAN, 24 August 2003 — San Antonio Spurs star Tim Duncan put in a solid all-round display to lead the US to a 98-69 victory over Venezuela in the FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying tournament on Friday.
Duncan scored 13 points and pulled down the same number of rebounds as the Americans won their third game in three days, despite committing 23 turnovers in a workmanlike performance.
“The score doesn’t indicate how close it actually was,” US head coach Larry Brown said. “I don’t think it was our best performance, last night (Thursday’s 111-73 win over the Dominican Republic) we had 39 assists and very few turnovers and tonight we had a bunch.” Fortunately for the US, Venezuela were unable to make the most of their chances, especially in the first half as they shot just 26 percent.
With Allen Iverson and Jason Kidd directing the attack and Mike Bibby shooting a perfect 3-for-3 from outside the arc, the US built a comfortable 52-35 half-time lead. In the second half, Venezuela tightened their defense and forced more turnovers.
A slam dunk by Oscar Torrez with 5:38 to go in the third quarter closed the deficit to 13 points but that was close as Venezuela would get. With the US showing little spark, Vince Carter came off the bench to help put a flattering look to the win with two strong dunks with less than two minutes remaining. “It’s an adjustment for us,” Carter said, referring to the international style of play.
Tracy McGrady led all US scorers with 16 followed by Iverson on 14. Duncan, Kidd and Carter all chipped in with 13 points apiece as the US improved to 3-0 with one first phase game remaining. Victor Diaz led Venezuela with 16 points including four 3-pointers as his side fell to 0-2 in Group B play.
In the day’s other Group B game, the Dominican Republic edged out the Virgin Islands 69-65 to improve to 2-1. The Virgin Islands remain winless after two games. Brazil (1-1) are the other team in the group.
In Group A action, Argentina bounced back to defeat Canada 94-90 and even up their record at 1-1 after Wednesday’s shock defeat to Mexico. Canada are also 1-1, while Mexico lead the group with two wins in as many games after an 80-68 victory over Uruguay (0-2). The hosts Puerto Rico (1-1) are the other team in Group A.
