US beat Turkey to win World Basketball Championship

The win sees the US qualify for the 2012 London Olympics

The United States captured their first world championship basketball title since 1994 with a 81-64 victory over Turkey in Istanbul. It was the Americans' fourth world crown and comes two years after they won the Olympic title in Beijing. Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant shone once again with 28 points while Lamar Odom added 15 points and 11 rebounds.Phoenix Suns forward Hedo Turkoglu led Turkey with 16 points, despite being hampered by a knee injury. Turkoglu gave the fanatical home support something to cheer about with eight early points but after he departed, the home side found the going difficult and were 22-17 down at the end of the opening quarter. The forward returned to the court in the second quarter with a knee brace on his right leg and with his movement affected and Durant lighting up the game, they were soon 42-32 down by the break. Durant was on fire at the beginning of the second half with two three-pointers to see the US team's lead go out to 16 but Turkey, playing in their first final, attempted to work their way back into the game. However, the US remained calm and continued picking their shots with a 61-48 margin going into the final quarter and they maintained their advantage to win back the gold. "It was a great challenge for us," said US captain Chauncey Billups. "We are a very young team and inexperienced, but we have been really close since the start of the tournament. Kevin Durant was huge. He was the best player of the tournament." In the bronze medal match, Lithuania defeated Serbia 99-88.