SAITAMA, Japan - It will be the Beijing Olympics before US National Basketball Association stars have another chance to reclaim global supremacy after losing Friday to Greece at the World Basketball Championship.

The 101-95 Greek victory means the US squad will not take an automatic berth going to the winner of Sunday's final here and must try to reach Beijing by making the finals of the 2007 Tournament of the Americas in Venezuela.

"This is the start of the process," US coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We knew it was going to be a journey not a short trip.

"We have to learn from the international game. Our guys are well together. They played as one but they didn't play as one for a long time. We need continuity."

Unlike past years when a selection committee appointed new teams every year, this US squad was picked from a pool of 24 NBA players who have made three-year commitments to be available through the 2008 Olympics in China.

"We're going to go to Venezuela and try to qualify for the Olympics and then go to Beijing and bring home some hardware," said US forward Shane Battier.

"We're disappointed. I wouldn't say we're ashamed. We represented our country with class. We showed we understand our place in the world of basketball."

That place is no longer at the top as it was when Michael Jordan led a "Dream Team" to 1992 Barcelona Olympic gold, or even in 2000 at Sydney when US stars struggled to subdue rivals but still went unbeaten to win gold.

"We just have to adapt to the international game," US forward Elton Brand said. "We need shooters to hit their shots. We just have to get to know each other as a group, to keep this going."

Greek star Theodoros Papaloukas, Most Valuable Player of the European finals last year for champion Greece and the Euroleague final with winner CSKA Moscow, agreed that US players lacking the bonds his team built over years was crucial.

"It's hard for so many players to learn their roles in a month. They are used to being stars on their teams. I think it was the difference," Papaloukas said.

"Every time we step onto the court we know what we have to do and we're been together for years. It's a different style. In the NBA it's different. It's one-on-one. Here you have your teammates."

But US forward Antawn Jamison summed up the situation by saying everything is up for grabs among all 24 possible players after the latest US failure.

"Everybody who plays for us has a chance to make the team," he said.

Should US players fail to reach the Americas final next year, they would still have a path to Beijing, although it would be a difficult one.

A Venezuela failure would require a top-three finish at a last-chance qualifying tournament in July of 2008 - barely two weeks after the NBA Finals and six weeks before the Beijing Olympics.

US forward Chris Bosh said the US players realize that the days of lopsided US routs all the way to a title are over and critics are waiting to rip them.

"World basketball is growing really competitive," he said. "Other countries can play now. It's not like it was in the past.

"Critics? We can't really listen to that."