TOKYO: China's dream of a best-ever finish in global competition was shattered at the World Basketball Championship yesterday by Greece, who eliminated the Asian champions 95-64.

Meanwhile, Denver Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony poured in 20 points as the United States flexed their muscles, crushing Australia 113-73 while Germany and France were forced to fend off late African challenges to secure their spots in the final eight.

Despite a 12-point Chinese lead early in the second quarter, the unbeaten Greeks rallied by outscoring China 26-6 in the third quarter to capture a quarter-final berth against France, who beat Angola 68-62.

A victory would have launched the Chinese into the final eight and brought a chance to improve their best showing in global competition, the eighth-place finishes from the 1994 World Championship and 2004 Athens Olympics.

"All I can say is we made our lowest goal," Chinese centre Yao Ming said. "We didn't win but we went down fighting. We did well in the first half. In the second half they were too much for us."

China took a last-second victory over Slovenia just to reach the 16-team playoff rounds, but were pounded by the United States and Italy as well as European champions Greece and Yao was blunt when asked about China's weaknesses.

The 2.23m star centre for the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets averaged a tournament-high 28 points a game but managed only 10 points against a determined Greek defense led by Sofoklis "Baby Shaq" Schortsianitis.

Theodoros Papaloukas led Greece with 19 points while Vassilis Spanoulis added 15. The Greeks made only three turnovers, none in the second half, while forcing 24 from China and making 13 steals.

"My team came out with a lot of respect for China and we had a few nerves," Greece coach Panagiotis Yannakis said.

China stormed to an 8-0 lead in the first 4:03, the Greeks missing their first seven shots on the way to missing 16 of their first 21, and stretched the lead to 23-11 on Wang Shipeng's 3-pointer 41 seconds into the second quarter.

But Greece awoke with a vengeance. Papaloukas scored eight points and Spanoulis added seven in a 19-4 Greek run over a five-minute span of the second quarter, helping the Greece seize a 41-36 half-time edge.

The Greeks broke open the game in the third quarter, six steals and nine Chinese turnovers contributing to a 26-4 run in the last eight minutes of the period for a 67-42 edge entering the fourth quarter.

"In the beginning it looked like we had prepared well but after that we were very bad in offense. We made too many turnovers and we lost confidence," China coach Jonas Kazlauskas said.

"Spanoulis and Papaloukas changed the game for Greece and broke our defense. They were more aggressive."

Spanoulis contributed 15 points to the win.

Source: China Daily