LeBron James of the U.S. (right) drives past Germany's Demond Greene during their quarter-final game at the World Basketball Championship in Saitama yesterday. The U.S. won 85-65. - Reuters

SAITAMA, Japan (Reuters):

THE UNITED States nonchalantly swept aside Ger-many to set up a semi-final showdown with Greece at the World Basketball Championship yesterday.

A high-energy third quarter sparked the U.S. to an 85-65 victory over Germany after a mis-firing first half in which the Americans' shooting touch completely deserted them.

The red-hot tournament favourites move on to play Greece in tomorrow's last four after the European champions eased past France 73-56 earlier in the day.

Olympic champions Argentina take on Spain in the other semi-final.

Carmelo Anthony led the U.S. with 19 points and fellow co-captain LeBron James added 13 as the U.S. matched Argentina by making it seven wins out of seven in Japan.

However, the U.S. flirted with disaster in the first half against Germany and took a narrow 40-39 lead into halftime after making just 14 of 44 shots from the floor.

"We missed some easy shots we're capable of making," James said. "But we never got down on ourselves and the same shots we missed in the first half we made in the second."

Confident

Anthony, meanwhile, expressed supreme confidence that the U.S. would end their six-year World and Olympic title drought in Japan.

"We control our own destiny," shrugged the Denver Nuggets forward. "We go and play good, the sky's the limit."

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki had 15 points for Germany but spent much of the game in foul trouble after picking up his third personal with 3:04 left in the second quarter.

"In the second half they turned up the heat and it became increasingly difficult to execute our offence," said German coach Dirk Bauermann.

"Some of our guys got on each other on the court and you can't have that."

Big men Antonis Fotsis and Lazaros Papadopoulos led unbeaten Greece with 14 points apiece but the Greeks will hardly have sent a shiver down the spines of the U.S. team.

Greece shaded a scrappy first two quarters, Dimitris Diamantidis providing a rare highlight with an off-balance three at the buzzer to give his team a 34-24 halftime lead.

"We will be playing against the best players in the world," said Diamantidis, attempting to shift pressure on to the American team. "We don't need to be nervous. It's easy for us."

Coach upbeat

Greek coach Panagiotis Yannakis was similarly upbeat.

"We showed we can control games," he said. "The players have put aside their egos for the team. I hope there is more happiness for us in the next few days."

France also fell to Greece with team leader Tony Parker among their ranks in last year's European semi-finals.

Parker broke a finger in the run-up to the tournament and France lacked any sort of penetration against a physical Greek defense without the San Antonio Spurs guard.

"We were nervous. We were indisciplined and we were scared," French coach Claude Bergeaud fumed. "I was very surprised."