U.S. Takes Charge in Its Rout of Greece
Wade and Bosh Supply Energy in Reserve as Americans Improve to 3-0 and Advance to the Medal Round: United States 92, Greece 69

By Michael Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 15, 2008

BEIJING, Aug. 14 -- Dwyane Wade batted away the ball from Greek guard Dimitrios Diamantidis and it started rolling toward the left baseline, seemingly out his reach, but Wade never stopped chasing. He hit an extra gear, wrapped both hands around the ball before it went out of bounds and aired out a perfectly placed pass above the rim to Kobe Bryant for an alley-oop dunk.

Chris Bosh stood under the basket, bravely bracing himself for a potentially bone-rattling collision with Sofoklis Schortsanitis, a rotund, 300-plus-pound forward, who is affectionately known as "Baby Shaq." Schortsanitis crashed into Bosh like a bowling ball, and the lanky forward took the charge, hit the ground sliding and hopped right back up.

Two plays in the game-changing second quarter of the United States' 92-69 win against Greece summarized the value of Wade and Bosh -- two players whose hustle and energy has helped the Americans break out of some slow starts; two players some questioned would be able to make significant contributions to the Olympic team this summer.

Sixth man supreme Wade scored 17 points -- including eight straight during the 31-16 second period -- with a game-high six steals. Bosh matched Bryant with a game-high 18 points and added three steals and blocked two shots, as the Americans (3-0) avenged an embarrassing 101-95 loss to Greece in the 2006 world championships in Japan. The win also secured a berth in the medal-round quarterfinals no matter what the team does when it faces world champion Spain, a fellow unbeaten, on Saturday.

"We wanted to make a statement that first of all, we're a better team than we were in '06," Wade said. "These teams are not afraid of us at all, so I don't know what kind of message we can send. But we're here."

When Managing Director Jerry Colangelo made the final selections last June, there was some doubt about whether Wade, the 2006 NBA Finals MVP, would be healthy enough after having season-ending knee surgery in March and if Bosh was too much of a lightweight to back up Dwight Howard in the much more physical international competitions.

Those have not been concerns through the first three games of this tournament, with Wade emerging as the do-everything sixth man, while Bosh has consistently provided solid defense and rebounding. "All the talk about me almost not making the team and this and that, that's all out the window," Wade said. Although he comes off the bench, Wade has been the team's leading scorer, averaging 18.7 points on 19-for-25 (76 percent) shooting. He also leads the team in steals with nine. "After going through the season I had last year, being healthy was the main thing," Wade said. "To be a big part of this team on both ends of the floor, for me, is what I dreamed, what I wanted and I think my teammates wanted it."

Bosh had specialized in doing the small things that go unnoticed -- setting screens, making deflections -- before playing his most inspired game of the tournament on Thursday. The usually laid-back Bosh was extremely emotional against Greece, howling and chest-bumping after absorbing a foul from Theodoros Papaloukas and making a layup. He also angrily spiked the ball to the ground after he blocked Vasileios Spanoulis's three-point attempt at the end of the first half. "I'm here," Bosh said. "I just don't want people to forget about me. I feel that I'm a lot stronger than '06."

The United States is stronger as well. Wade and Bosh were both part of the bronze medal team in the world championships, and injuries forced them to miss all of the fun at the 2007 FIBA Americas tournament, in which the potential of this "Redeem Team" truly came to fruition as the Americans demolished the rest of the Western hemisphere.

With Wade and Bosh back in the mix, the Americans have a second unit that surpasses most countries' starters, and they have helped the team establish a reputation for relentless ball-hawking defense. The United States has forced 25 turnovers in each of the wins against Angola and Greece, and it is holding opponents to just 72 points per game.

The Greeks had to feel helpless in the third quarter when Spanoulis had a clear path to the basket, but LeBron James (13 points, three blocks) soared above him to smack it off the backboard. Nikolaos Zisis rebounded the miss, but when he attempted a layup, Bosh came from behind to slap that shot off the backboard. "It's the hustle," Bosh said. "We don't want anything to be easy. If teams get two points or three points, we want them to feel like, 'That's a relief.' We want it to be the hardest two or three points they ever got."