U.S. men beat Greece, 92-69

Greece will always have one night it can treasure forever after stunning the U.S. in the 2006 World Championships, but that was then and this is now.

Thursday night the Greeks ran into another U.S. team with many of the same players but little else in common with the squad they dumped two years ago, which proceeded to take them apart, cruising to a 92-69 win to go 3-0.

Kobe Bryant and Chris Bosh scored 18 points, leading all scorers.

Ending his own mini-slump, Bryant, who came into this game 10 for 27 from the field and one for 15 from three-point range, made seven of 14 shots -- and two three-pointers.The Americans' pressure defense took Greece out of the pick-and-roll game it buried the U.S. with in 2006. The Greeks didn't make a three-pointer in the first half and went four for 18 from three-point range.

The loss to Greece in the semifinals at Saitama, Japan, outside Tokyo, is the only one for the U.S. team in three summers under Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski reportedly showed the film to this team three times.

Of course, Krzyzewski told Toronto Raptors assistant Jay Triano, who coached the U.S. select team in scrimmages in Las Vegas, that he, Krzyzewski, had seen the film 40 times.

By now, a U.S. player can tell you about Greek in his sleep. Not very athletic but very skilled. Big, savvy guards such as Vassilis Spanoulis, who gunned the U.S. down in 2006 and 6-7 point guard Dimitrios Diamantidis.

"I think Diamantidis is off the chart," U.S. scout Tony Ronzone said before the game. "He's just a huge X factor any time he plays the game. He can post up, he can shoot, he handles the ball.

"You cannot take the ball off him. That's one thing we've got to understand, we're not going to take the ball from him. That's not going to happen."

Unfortunately for Jason Kidd, he didn't understand it, picking up three fouls in the first 1:25 and coming out of the game.

It was part of a rocky start for the U.S. but it didn't last long.

Trailing, 13-9, they went on a 11-3 run to end the first quarter, then overwhelmed the Greeks in a 31-16 second quarter.

After that, the entire second half was devoted to mopping up.

So much for that insult to national pride.

Of course, that loss was only one of seven U.S. losses in the last three world competitions, counting the 2004 Olympics and the 2002 World Championships, so that just leaves Yugoslavia, Spain, Lithuania, Puerto Rico and Argentina twice.

Spain is up next Saturday. The Spaniards had better come ready because after lackluster wins over Angola; it appears the U.S. finally is.

mark.heisler@latimes.com