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Barcelona, Spain • James Harden and Stephen Curry went into halftime with no points and no panic.
"We just stick to the program. We know it's tough for any team to run with us for 40 minutes because of how deep we are and how hard we work on the floor," Curry said.
"I think we understand we didn't make many shots in the first half but our defense was pretty solid and if we kept the pressure on them, things would open up."
They did. Quickly.
Klay Thompson scored 20 points and Harden had 12 of his 14 in the third quarter, helping the U.S. turn a close game into a 119-76 rout of Slovenia on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
Kenneth Faried added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Americans, who will play Lithuania on Thursday in Barcelona for a spot in Sunday's gold-medal game in Madrid. Lithuania beat Turkey 73-61 earlier Tuesday.
The U.S. led 49-42 at halftime despite shooting just 36 percent, with Harden and Curry, two of the NBA's top seven scorers, combining to miss all 12 shots.
"I said, 'I don't think that'll happen in the second half' and it didn't," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Derrick Rose finished with 12 points after coming into the game shooting 8 for 37 in the World Cup. Anthony Davis had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Goran Dragic led Slovenia with 13 points.
"We prepare but it's easy to prepare on the paper," Slovenia coach Zdovic Jure said. "Definitely they were so athletic, they were more aggressive second half and actually they punish every mistake."
The Americans led by only five points early in the third quarter before tearing off a 27-10 run. That made it 76-54 late in the period, and the game turned altogether lopsided after the Americans scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to lead 96-64.
World Cup
Quarterfinals
Tuesday
• Lithuania 73, Turkey 61
• U.S. 119, Slovenia 76
Wednesday
• Serbia vs. Brazil, 10 a.m.
• France vs. Spain, 2 p.m.
Semifinals
Thursday
• U.S. vs. Lithuania, 1 p.m.
Friday
• France-Spain winner vs. Serbia-Brazil winner, 2 p.m.