(CNN) -- Political discussions about Iran's nuclear aspirations were benched Thursday when the U.S. and Iranian national basketball teams went head to head at the FIBA World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. The Americans clinched first place in Group B with an 88-51 win over Iran. But most of the attention wasn't directed toward the players' performance or their skills on the court; rather, it was the fact that the two teams -- whose countries have no diplomatic relations -- were sharing the same court for the first time. "Yeah I get a lot of questions, most of it about the politics. But our game is nothing to do about the politics, it's just the sport," Iranian player Arsalan Kazemi told CNN.
@highlight
In the first-ever meeting of the teams, the U.S. won 88-51
@highlight
Scrutiny of the game was due more to the political situation than anything else
@highlight
The Iranian players said they were excited to go up against NBA stars
The @placeholder, you know, are a lot better than us.