The US men’s team and its all-star cast put on a dazzling show on Sunday, drawing rousing ovations as it beat China 101-70.
US President George W. Bush cheered from the stands as NBA stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant coaxed “oohs” and “ahhs” from the red-flag waving crowd at Beijing’s basketball arena.
“Look, I had five dunks in one game. That’s because of the crowd,” Kobe Bryant said. “Last time I had five dunks in a game I was like 17. So that’s all because of the energy in this crowd. I think they knew that history was being made tonight and obviously it was a proud moment for their country as it was for ours. You could feel the electricity.”
Wade scored 19 points, James had 18 and Bryant finished with 13 points for the Americans.
China’s Yao Ming finished with 13 points. He started the showcase by drilling a three-pointer from the top of the key for the first score of the game.
The Americans, still known as the Dream Team here, enjoyed a huge backing during exhibition games in Macau and Shanghai, support that will surely help them here on their gold-medal quest for Olympic redemption.
In earlier matches, defending champion Argentina stumbled to a 79-75 loss to Lithuania, despite 19 points from Manu Ginobli. Croatia romped to a 72-52 win over Australia in their Group A opener, Russia earned a 71-49 win over Iran, while Germany overwhelmed Angola 95-66. Spain downed Greece 81-66.
In the US-China match, the Americans made 21 of their first 25 shots inside the 3-point arc.
Bush came out first, walking to his seat above center court about a half hour before the 10.15pm start. He was still shaking hands and slapping five with fans around him when Yao led China’s players onto the floor to a thunderous ovation.
The Americans sprinted out a few minutes later to an ovation just as loud.
Yao’s three-pointer to start the game sent the crowd into a frenzy and China stayed in the game for a while by hitting from behind the arc. The Chinese hit eight of their first 12 attempts, with Sun Yue’s 3 tying it at 29 with 6:09 remaining in the second quarter.
“It was our first game. We were very anxious. We missed shots that we normally would hit. But at the end of the day, you win by almost 30 points, you’ve got to take good things out of that,” Wade said. “We played very, very hard. We give ourselves a chance defensively every night. That’s what it’s all about with us.”
The Americans then started forcing turnovers by China’s smaller guards and broke open the game with a series of layups and dunks. That helped the US score 10 straight, highlighted by James’ spectacular one-handed slam of Wade’s alley-oop pass, to build a 45-32 lead with under two minutes left in the half.
The lead reached 20 when Wade hit two free throws with 2:39 remaining in the third quarter, and the US team kept building on it from there. Michael Redd’s three-pointer with 6:54 to play made it 84-50.
Yao checked out about two minutes later, raising a fist to the appreciative fans who were still cheering even in the blowout.
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