US escape in Istanbul thriller

The United States narrowly avoided a shock upset at the hands of Group B rivals Brazil to come through 70-68 winners at the World Championships late on Monday. After cruising in their opening two games, the US were caught off guard by Brazil early on...

The United States narrowly avoided a shock upset at the hands of Group B rivals Brazil to come through 70-68 winners at the World Championships late on Monday.

After cruising in their opening two games, the US were caught off guard by Brazil early on with Tiago Splitter and Marcus Viera rattling the American defence for a 46-43 half-time lead.

The US were able to regain the lead in the third quarter, going into the final quarter just two points in arrears, ensuring an exciting finale.

The drama prevailed, with Kevin Durant fouling Marcelo Huertas as he attempted to tie the game up at 70-70.

Missing his first from the foul line, Huertas then missed his second on purpose, rebounding his own shot before off loading to team-mate Leandro Barbosa under the hoop.

Barbosa could not make the shot allowing the US to hold on.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.