Melo in foul mood

THE UNITED States and Argentina have some history in men's basketball.

In fact, it can be said that Argentina is the reason United States basketball did a total restructuring of how it would select players for national competition.

Argentina had already stung the USA when it became the first nation to beat a United States team comprised of NBA players at the 2002 FIBA World Championships.

That was followed by Argentina eliminating Team NBA/USA in the semifinals of the 2004 Athens Olympics.

So it's no surprise that things got a little chippy during the United States' 126-97 preliminary round victory on Monday.

Still USA forward Carmelo Anthony thinks Argentina forward Facundo Campazzo sank to a new low by hitting him in the groin as he was shooting a three-pointer.

"It was definitely a cheap shot," Anthony said. "Something like that, I don't play like that.

"If you're going to foul somebody, foul them hard but you don't take a shot like that. Nobody takes a cheap shot like that."

We tend to agree with Anthony.

For his part, Campazzo said he apologized to USA swingman Kobe Bryant after the game, but he didn't apologize to Anthony because USA guard Chris Paul didn't apologize to him for punching him earlier in the game.

OK, but that still doesn't explain why he hit Anthony instead of Paul and why he thought it was OK to apologize to Bryant and not Anthony.

- John Smallwood