ISTANBUL,  (Reuters) – The United States stretched  their perfect world championship start to three wins out of  three yesterday but only after they were pushed to the limit by  a desperately unlucky Brazilian team.

The U.S. team, led by coach Mike Krzyzewski, jumped for joy  to celebrate their 70-68 win after the Brazilians, who led 46-43  at halftime, missed two opportunities in the dying seconds to  send the game into overtime.
Argentina also notched up their third successive win with a  91-70 rout of Angola, while Slovenia beat Balkan neighbours  Croatia 91-84 in a rollercoaster derby in which each team sank  11 three-pointers.

Serbia drubbed Jordan 112-69 on the back of 21 points each  from forwards Marko Keselj and Dusan Savanovic, Australia  thrashed Germany 78-43 and Iran enjoyed their first world  championship win with a 71-58 defeat of Tunisia.

After two easy wins in the opening two days, the U.S. showed  first signs of nerves as the battling Brazilians sank seven  three-pointers in the first half, with Kevin Durant scoring 19  points to keep the tournament favourites afloat.

It became a physical, low-scoring contest in the second half  as both sides started misfiring from long range and while Durant  finished with a game-high 27 points and 10 rebounds, it was a  lay-up by Chauncey Billups that spared the U.S. their blushes.
Billups had 15 points, fellow guard Derrick Rose added 11  and Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom scored eight to go  with nine rebounds.

PASSIONATE

SUPPORT
Slovenia, with a population of just two million, are the  smallest nation taking part in the 24-team event but have the  biggest visiting fans contingent and their passionate support  spurred on their side against the Croats.

Croatia led 44-39 at the interval but roared on by their  4,000 supporters in the Abdi Ikpeci Arena, the Slovenians turned  the match on its head with a barrage of three-pointers.

“Our vociferous fans gave us the wind in our sails we needed  to get going and play more aggressively,” Slovenian forward  Bostjan Nachbar said.

“They were magnificent and we now have to keep up this  momentum to finish runners-up in our preliminary pool.”

Coach Memi Becirovic added: “We had a team talk at halftime,  I lectured the players with some strong words and also told them  after the game to keep their feet on the ground.

“We haven’t achieved anything yet because our ambitions in  this tournament are very high.”

Jaka Lakovic and Uros Slokar scored 15 points each for  Slovenia and Phoenix Suns guard Goran Dragic added 14 as the  trio outweighed an excellent individual performance by Croatia’s  Roko-Leni Ukic, who finished with 20 points.

Hamed Haddadi, the first Iranian player to feature in the  NBA when he joined the Memphis Grizzlies in 2008, led his team  to victory over the Tunisians with 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Iran, who play the United States tomorrow, had never  previously qualified for the finals and won a tight affair in  front of a 12,500 crowd after Mehdi Kamrani added 15 points  while Arsalan Kazemi chipped in 14 and seven rebounds.

Argentina centre Luis Scola was the day’s top individual  performer with 32 points and eight rebounds against the Angolans  and Carlos Delfino added 22 in a one-sided contest.