ATHENS, Greece ‹ Bronze is better than nothing. That's one Olympic lesson the U.S. men's basketball team was able to understand.
The Americans took the third-place game seriously Saturday night, earning some revenge and salvaging some self-respect in a 104-96 victory over Lithuania.
Although they didn't get what they wanted in Athens, they didn't embarrass themselves in their finale, either.
''You want to win the whole thing, but you've got to cherish the fact that you were able to win something,'' Allen Iverson said. ''You come all the way over here to Greece and then go home with nothing? That's a lot worse.''
Iverson stared at the Argentine flag as it was raised during the medal ceremony, nothing even remotely resembling a smile crossing his face.
The American team left quickly after getting its medals, while the players from Argentina, who defeated Italy 84-69 for the gold, stayed on the court for another 20 minutes. They cut down the nets, wrapped themselves in flags, sang songs and celebrated with their fans.
Defeating one of three teams that beat them earlier in the tournament, the Americans got 22 points from Shawn Marion, 15 from Iverson and 14 apiece from Lamar Odom and Stephon Marbury.
The Americans' key to victory was their shooting, as it was in their quarterfinal win over Spain. After missing all five of their 3-point attempts in the first half against Lithuania, they made eight in the second half ‹ four of them in the final quarter.
The 104 points was the most by any team in the men's tournament, topping the 102 the Americans scored against Spain two nights earlier in the quarterfinals. They were knocked out of gold-medal contention by Argentina in an 89-81 semifinal loss Friday.
''I think we ought to be real positive about them and what they did, the commitment they made and the sacrifice they made,'' U.S. coach Larry Brown said. ''I said this before: This is the greatest time I ever had as a coach, and I don't know if I've ever been more proud of a group of people after tonight than this group. It has not been easy.''
The start of the game was delayed 48 minutes after both teams arrived wearing white uniforms. It also included a second half that started with no coaches on the American bench. Brown emerged from the tunnel 50 seconds after play started, and his assistants beat him out by only 30 seconds.
''They changed the clock on us, and I've got two new hips,'' the 63-year-old Brown said. ''We were in a slow jog trying to get here.''
Strange stuff, but not quite as weird as the Americans dropping three games after they had lost only two in the previous 68 years. It's the first time since pro players were added for the 1992 Dream Team that the United States is going home without gold.
For the Lithuanian team, the defeat was the second in a row after it won its first six games. The loss denied them a fourth consecutive bronze medal.
Track and Field
ATHENS, Greece ‹ A sloppy handoff in the men's 400-meter relay forced the Americans to settle for silver, one hundredth of a second behind Britain.
U.S. anchor Maurice Greene took the baton in second place and with a burst of speed in the final 30 meters, made up some of the gap behind Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis ‹ but just failed to catch him. The British won in 38.07 seconds, and the Americans won silver in 38.08. Nigeria took the bronze.
The U.S. relay was undermined by a poor handoff from its second runner, 100-meter gold medalist Justin Gatlin, to Coby Miller.
Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj became the first man in 80 years to win the 1,500 and 5,000 meters at one Olympics.
El Guerrouj passed Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia with about 50 meters left in the 5,000 and finished in 13 minutes, 14.39 seconds. Bekele, who was trying to become the first man in 24 years to win the 5,000 and 10,000 at an Olympics, finished second. Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, who led until the final lap, won bronze. The first man to win the 1,500 and 5,000 in an Olympics was Paavo Nurmi, who did it in 1924.
Kelly Holmes surged from behind to take the women's 1,500 meters gold and clinch a rare middle distance Olympic double. The Briton already won the 800 earlier this week.
In the final straight, Holmes kicked for home and easily beat Tatyana Tomashova of Russia and Maria Cioncan of Romania. Holmes finished in 3 minutes 57.90 seconds, holding a .22 second edge over Tomashova. Cioncan was third.
The United States swept the 1,600-meter relays after the men's team handily won gold in 2 minutes, 55.91 seconds. Otis Harris, Derrick Brew, Jeremy Wariner and Darold Williamson dominated while Australia took silver and Nigeria won bronze.
Earlier, the women's 1,600 relay team won in 3:19.01. The U.S. women's team of DeeDee Trotter, Monique Henderson, Sanya Richards and Monique Hennagan easily beat Russia, which took silver and Jamaica, which won bronze.
Yelena Slesarenko of Russia set an Olympic record while winning the gold medal in women's high jump. Slesarenko cleared 6 feet, 9 inches (2.06 meters). Hestrie Cloete of South Africa won the silver. Viktoriya Styopina of Ukraine got the bronze.
Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia relied on his trademark late kick to sweep by four competitors and win the 800 meters. South African Mbulaeni Tongai Mulaudzi won the silver. World record holder Wilson Kipketer of Denmark took the bronze.
Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway won the gold medal in javelin with a personal-best throw of 283 feet, 9 inches. Vadims Vasilevskis of Latvia won the silver and Sergey Makarov of Russia won the bronze.
Women's Basketball
ATHENS, Greece ‹ Shannon Johnson and Tina Thompson gave the United States a huge lift with their second-half scoring to help the Americans beat Australia 74-63 for their third straight Olympic women's basketball title.
The U.S. team rallied after falling behind by four points in the second half. Johnson hit two baskets and sank four free throws to help the United States take the lead for good. She finished with 18 points. Thompson made a clutch 3-pointer to make it 66-57 with just under three minutes to play.
Dawn Staley, playing in her third and final Olympics, put it out of reach, sinking two free throws with 1:37 left for an 11-point lead.
It also was the third gold for Lisa Leslie, who has played with Staley on U.S. teams for 16 years, and Sheryl Swoopes. Staley, Leslie and Swoopes led the resurgence in U.S. women's basketball internationally after bronze medal finishes in the 1992 Olympics and 1994 world championships.
Men's Soccer
ATHENS, Greece ‹ Argentina won its first Olympic gold medal in soccer, beating Paraguay 1-0 on Carlos Tevez's eighth goal of the tournament.
Wrestling
ATHENS, Greece ‹ American Cael Sanderson won the gold medal in men's 185-pound (84 kg) freestyle, beating Moon Eui-jae of South Korea, 3-1. While at Iowa State, Sanderson became the only four-time unbeaten champion in NCAA history.
Sazhid Sazhidov of Russia won the bronze.
Boxing
ATHENS, Greece (AP) ‹ Thailand's Manus Boonjumnong pulled the biggest upset of Saturday's five gold medal bouts, using ring movement and speed to beat Yudel Johnson of Cuba 17-11 in a light welterweight bout. Two other Cubans, heavyweight Odlanier Solis and flyweight Yuriokis Gamboa, won their gold medal bouts.
Boonjumnong made sure the powerful Cuban team wouldn't tie its record of seven gold medals in Barcelona by beating Johnson in a tactical bout that had the Cuban team and its fans upset.
Gamboa promptly won the first Cuban gold of the games against Jerome Thomas of France. Thomas, who captured a bronze medal in Sydney, was aggressive but Gamboa was too fast for him inside, winning 38-23.
Solis, who replaced retired three-time Olympic champion Felix Savon as the Cuban heavyweight, beat Viktar Zuyev of Belarus in a lackluster 22-13 bout.
Two Russians also won golds. Alexei Tichtchenko beat Song Guk Kim of North Korea 39-17 at featherweight, while Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov beat Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan 28-18 in a middleweight bout.
Four more Cubans fight for gold medals Sunday when the final six weight classes are contested. Among them is the light heavyweight final, where American Andre Ward faces Magomed Aripgadjiev of Belarus.
Diving
ATHENS, Greece (AP) ‹ Hu Jia overtook teammate Tian Liang on his next-to-last dive to win the 10-meter platform title, giving China a record sixth Olympic diving gold medal.
Hu totaled 748.08 points to upset defending champion Tian in the last diving event of the Athens Games.
Mathew Helm of Australia edged Tian for silver by 0.90 points, finishing with 730.56. Tian totaled 729.66. World champion Alexandre Despatie of Canada was fourth with 707.46.
