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Arroyo off in Puerto Rico's loss
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

ATHENS, Greece - Carlos Arroyo's worst game of the Olympic basketball tournament came after his previous performance in Athens was a factor in the Jazz's decision to let one of his teammates go to Milwaukee.

Arroyo made only three of 13 shots in Puerto Rico's 78-58 loss to Greece as preliminary play ended Monday.

Jazz senior vice president Kevin O'Connor, who also watched Arroyo play in person Saturday in a win over Australia, said the team was satisfied enough with point guards Arroyo and Raul Lopez not to match the offer sheet Mo Williams signed with the Bucks.

"We've got two point guards already," O'Connor said. "We just got caught in a situation where we think [Williams] can play in the league; we just had to determine who's going to play more."

Asked if Arroyo's Olympic performance played into the decision, O'Connor said, "It sure did."

Arroyo was averaging a tournament-high 20.5 points before Monday, when he scored 10.

Greece finished Group B play tied for second with Puerto Rico and the U.S. team at 3-2. Because they beat Puerto Rico by more than 12 points, the Greeks earned the pool's No. 2 quarterfinal seed via a point-differential system.

- Kurt Kragthorpe

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