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Overcoming a chilly shooting night with relentless defensive pressure and domination of the offensive boards, the U.S. outscored Germany (5-2) 27-13 in the third quarter to break open a tight game and roll to an 85-65 victory in the quarterfinals of the World Championship. The win was the USA’s seventh consecutive.

Carmelo overcame a poor shooting night (7-19 FGs overall, 2-12 FGs in the first half) to account for a game high 19 points, while LeBron James added 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Game Recap | SlamOnline Commentary by Lang Whitaker | Box Score

It’s now down to the Final Four!  USA plays tomorrow (Sept. 1)

Then There Were Four 

Four international basketball powers, two from the Americas zone and two from the European zone, are all that remain in the hunt for the 2006 FIBA World Championship gold medal. Argentina, Greece, Spain and the USA enter the semifinals with spotless 7-0 records and will play Friday in a pair of semifinals games that on paper promise to be battle royals.

The day’s first contest pits the United States against Greece in 4:30 p.m. game (Japan time /3:30 a.m. EDT). Greece enters averaging 81.7 points a game and is led by Vasileios Spanoulis, 11.3 ppg., and Antonios Fotsis, 11.1 ppg. The U.S. leads everyone in scoring, averaging 105.9 points while hitting a hefty 50.6 percent of its shots. Carmelo Anthony paces the U.S. attack averaging 19.6 points per contest.

The night’s finale is another must see contest. Spain comes in as the World Championship’s best shooting team at 51.5 percent, while 2004 Olympic gold medalist Argentina leads the event in defensive field goal percentage having held opposing teams to 37.5 percent shooting. Manu Ginobili leads Argentina averaging 15.0 ppg., while Pau Gasol carries a large chunk of Spain’s point production averaging 21.6 ppg.

Everybody is breaking out the story of how Lebron is playing unselfishly for Team USA. Even though he averaged 30+ points in the NBA season, he’s now running Point Guard and deferring to his teammates. And he’s not worried about his scoring either…as long as Team USA keeps winning…

In the FIBA world championships, James has averaged 12.5 points per game. He’s third among the Americans in scoring, behind fellow captains Dwyane Wade (20.0 points) and Carmelo Anthony (19.7).

James isn’t lighting up the scoreboard. But he’s making his teammates better simply by being on the court. As the U.S. prepares to meet Germany in the quarterfinals Wednesday night, James is second on the team in assists, with 3.5 per game. That’s fifth among the tourney’s remaining players.

It would be natural for a world-class scorer to fret over his point production. But James said he’s not concerned with his numbers.

“If anybody knows my game, they know I don’t play like that,” James said after a Team USA workout this week. “I play just to help our team win. Whatever our team needs for us to try and win ballgames, that’s what I’m going to do.

LeBron James or James Gandolfini? Steve Nash or Steve Jobs? D-Wade or Jay-Z? It’s up to you to choose as AskMen.com wants you to help them select their Top 49 Men of 2006.

Do you want LeBron James to make the final cut? Vote for him here.

Thanks to Daniel Morin from AskMen.com for the news.  Here’s what AskMen.com has to say about Lebron James on his profile page…

why we like him?

LeBron James is basketball’s next legend. The prototype rags-to-riches story, he’s as marketable as Jordan and is causing more hype than any high school athlete to ever declare for the pros. Ever.