Before it can win a world championship, the United States needed to start looking like a world champion. Kevin Durant, Chauncey Billups and the rest of the Americans finally had that appearance Monday, powering into the quarterfinals with a 121-66 victory over Angola. "Obviously we want to stay humble, but at the same time we have to know that we can do it," forward Kevin Love said.

Luis Scola scored 37 points, carrying Argentina to a thrilling 93-89 victory over Brazil on Tuesday and into the quarterfinals of the world championship. Overcoming a regional rival guided by the coach who led them to their greatest glory, Argentina advanced to play Lithuania on Thursday. Scola, the Houston Rockets forward who came in as the tournament's leader with 29 points per game, scored...

Linas Kleiza scored 30 points Tuesday to help send Lithuania into the quarterfinals of the basketball world championship with a 78-67 win over China. China jumped out to a 16-5 lead, but Lithuania used a 16-2 run in the second quarter to go ahead 36-31 with 3:20 left. A 16-3 run then put Lithuania up 64-51 entering the fourth quarter.

Russia reached the quarterfinals of basketball's world championships against the United States, beating New Zealand 78-56 Monday after Andrey Vorontsevich had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Timofey Mozgov, Russia's 2.16-meter (7-foot-1) center who recently signed for the New York Knicks, added 16 points and seven rebounds.

Turkey used a 21-4 run spanning the second and third quarters on Sunday to eliminate France from the basketball world championship with a 95-77 win. Phoenix Suns forward Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 points and Sinan Guler added 17 for Turkey, which played its first tournament game in the new Sinan Erdem Dome.

Jaka Lokovic scored 19 points and Slovenia hit 16 of 33 3-pointers to eliminate Australia 87-58 Sunday in the round of 16 at the basketball world championship. Lokovic's corner 3-pointer in the game's opening seconds sparked a 12-0 run and Slovenia never looked back. Primoz Brezec of the Milwaukee Bucks had 12 points and Goran Dragic added 10 points and eight assists for Slovenia.

Juan Carlos Navarro scored 22 points for Spain in an 80-72 victory that eliminated Greece from the basketball world championships Saturday. The Spaniards made 8 of 18 3-pointers and used a 13-3 run in the fourth quarter to push ahead during the game in the round of 16. Greece closed within 72-68 on Vasileios Spanoulis' layup with 1:01 left in the game, but Ricky Rubio answered with two free...

Oklahoma City Thunder center Nenad Krstic had 16 points and Aleksander Rasic scored five points in the last 21 seconds to help Serbia edge Croatia 73-72 in the round of 16 at the basketball world championship Saturday. Croatian guard Marko Popovic made two free throws with 5 seconds left to tie the game at 72, but Rasic was fouled by Davor Kus as he attempted a shot with 1 second left.

The Milwaukee Bucks have signed second-round draft pick Darington Hobson. The 6-foot-7, 210-pound junior was taken 37th overall out of New Mexico in this year's draft. Terms were not disclosed when the signing was announced Friday. Hobson averaged 16.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists over three college seasons, the first two at Eastern Utah.

The New Jersey Nets have waived forward Sean May. Nets general manager Billy King said Tuesday that May suffered a stress fracture to his left foot during a workout last week. King said the team believes the four- to eight-week rehab period would not afford May a legitimate chance to make the roster. May signed with the Nets on Aug.