Team USA Opens FIBA Worlds With Impressive Rout of Croatia

ISTANBUL -- Even Manu Ginobili was excited about Team USA's play Saturday.

It was Ginobili who helped stymie the Americans at the 2004 Olympics as his Argentina team won gold and Team USA settled for bronze. But now Ginobili, the San Antonio Spurs guard who is not participating in the World Championship this summer, is playing the role of fan.

"Great job by USA. Playing hard & w emotion,'' Ginobili Tweeted after Team USA's first half Saturday against Croatia and even then translated it into Spanish.

Ginobili was right. The Americans were quite impressive in their World Championship opener at Abdi Ipekci Arena, winning 106-78.

Well, they were impressive after the first quarter.

The Americans trailed 19-18 late in the first quarter and led just 22-20 when it ended. They would have trailed had a last-second Croatia three-point attempt not rimmed out.

Would this be a repeat of Team USA getting stunned by Puerto Rico to start those ill-fated 2004 Olympics?

Hardly.

FanHouse's Chris Tomasson is in Turkey for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

The Americans opened the second quarter with a 16-4 run to take a 38-24 lead. They were up 48-26 at halftime and continued to cruise the rest of the game.

Guard Eric Gordon, who had four three-pointers, led a balanced Team USA attack with 16 points. Forward Kevin Durant added 14 points and guard Chauncey Billups had 12.

Team USA next plays Sunday against Slovenia. Follow Ginobili on Twitter to see what he has to say about it.

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter@christomasson