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.

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.

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.

LeBron James didn't change all his teams this summer. James posted on his Twitter feed Thursday that he's considering going to Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 11 to see the matchup between No. 2 Ohio State -- his longtime team of choice -- and No. 13 Miami. And no, the former Cleveland Cavaliers star isn't rooting for the Hurricanes.

The Atlanta Hawks have signed free agent center Etan Thomas to add bulk in the frontcourt. The 6-foot-10 Thomas spent most of his career with the Washington Wizards but finished last season with Oklahoma City. He's averaged 5.8 point and 4.8 rebounds per game over his eight-year career, which includes 74 starts.

Delonte West is returning to the Boston Celtics. The team announced Wednesday that it has signed the 6-foot-3 guard, who was suspended for the first 10 games of the 2010-11 season after pleading guilty to weapons charges in Maryland. West played his first three seasons with Boston before being traded to Seattle in 2007 in the deal that brought Ray Allen to the Celtics.