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| Carmelo Anthony believes Germany's upset against Team USA should be great for basketball. FIBA |
PASAY—NBA legend Carmelo Anthony agreed with many basketball observers' notion that Germany's victory over the United States in the FIBA World Cup semifinals on Friday night was nothing short of a major underdog story.
Anthony said on Saturday that there is no reason to sugarcoat Team USA's shock defeat to Germany in front of 11,011 fans at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
"Let's just be quite frank. We don't want to sugarcoat this. It is an upset. When you have that gold standard in that, that's what we're reaching. That's our goal, so anything other than that is an upset. I don't want anybody to kinda sugarcoat that," Anthony said during a "talk show" with fellow FIBA World Cup global ambassadors Pau Gasol and Luis Scola at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza.
He then lauded Germany for completing the major stunner against Team USA, saying, "You got to take your hat off to Germany. Those guys had a hell of a game."
Meanwhile, Anthony, who personally witnessed Team USA get knocked out of championship contention in the semis, thinks there is a silver lining to Germany's massive upset.
"Those are upsets. Let's accept that, but that's good for the sport. That's good for FIBA, basketball, and fans to let everybody know that the rest of the world is here to play," said Anthony, a member of the 2006 team that also lost in the FIBA World Cup semis to major underdog Greece.
He then hopes that Team USA has learned its lessons from the stinging defeat on Friday night to Germany.
"Everybody has to think differently about their approach to winning the gold medal," Anthony further said.
Team USA caps its campaign on Sunday night against neighbor Canada for the bronze medal.
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