FIBA World Cup: Just like that, 4 quarterfinalists; Day 7 takeaways

Banged-up Team USA squares off with the Greek Freak

On Saturday, the second round continues as Groups K and L get under way. At Shenzhen for Group K, Brazil (3-0) takes on the Czech Republic (2-1) at 4:30 a.m. Eastern before short-handed Team USA (3-0) battles Greece (2-1) and reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics will be out for the second straight game with a sprained left ankle, while Marcus Smart of the Celtics missed the first-round finale against Japan on Thursday with an aggravation of his strained left quad and is day-to-day.

Not having Tatum will hurt the Americans more, as they didn’t have a lot of size to begin with and Greece is … well … huge.

Besides Antetokounmpo, the Greeks a pair of 7-foot-1 bigs in Ioannis Bourousis, the 35-year-old with the nifty outside touch, and 22-year-old Georgios Papagiannis. That’s not counting 6-foot-9 stretch 4 Georgios Printezis or 6-foot-9 wing Ioannis Papapetrou.

The U.S. ran out a starting lineup against Japan that included one big, center Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers,  three wings in Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes, Joe Harris of the Brooklyn Nets and Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz and a point guard, Boston’s Kemba Walker.

Mismatches, anyone?

In Group L at Nanting, 3-0 Australia opens the second round against a 2-1 Dominican Republic squad that is coming off being routed 90-56 by France to close out the first round.

The other game features the French (3-0) taking on Lithuania (2-1), which dominated its first two games before falling to Australia on Thursday.

Wins by Australia and France will relegate the Dominicans and Lithuanians to the 9-16 field, which would be a bitter pill for Lithuania after how well it began the tournament.

In classification group play on Saturday:

Group M at Dongguan

• New Zealand (1-2) vs. Japan (0-3), 3:30 a.m. Eastern
• Turkey (1-2) vs. Montenegro (0-3), 6:30 a.m. Eastern

Group N at Shanghai

• Canada (1-2) vs. Jordan (0-3), 4 a.m. Eastern
• Germany (1-2) vs. Senegal (0-3), 8 a.m. Eastern