USA hold off Australia in Olympic basketball warm-up

USA hold off Australia in Olympic basketball warm-up

Kobe Bryant of the US Olympic team scores three points against Australia during a warm-up match for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Shanghai. Team USA held off a tough Australia side 87-76 in their most difficult warm-up so far as they prepare to launch their bid to recapture Olympic gold in the upcoming Beijing Games.
Kobe Bryant of the US Olympic team scores three points against Australia during a warm-up match for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Shanghai. Team USA held off a tough Australia side 87-76 in their most difficult warm-up so far as they prepare to launch their bid to recapture Olympic gold in the upcoming Beijing Games.

Team USA held off a tough Australia 87-76 here Tuesday in their most difficult warm-up game so far as they prepare to launch their bid to recapture Olympic gold in the upcoming Beijing Games.

Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade scored nine points in the fourth quarter to hold off a second half three-point barrage by the Boomers, who got 13 points from point guard Patrick Mills.

Wade finished with 22 points, while NBA scoring champ LeBron James scored 16 and Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant had 13.

"It was a great game for us, the last game before going into the (Olympic) tournament, we are happy that we played them and I'm sure they feel they got better from this," Wade said.

"But at the end of the day, we won the ball game and found a way to win."

Australia went into the third quarter down 44-29, but a three-pointer by swing man Matthew Nielsen pulled the Boomers within four to 48-44 with six minutes left in the period, silencing the largely pro-US fans.

During the Australian-run, sharpshooter David Barlow scored 10 of his 12 points, hitting four of five from behind the arch for the night.

Centre Chris Anstey scored 13 points and had six rebounds for Australia, who played without injured Milwaukee Bucks centre Andrew Bogut.

The Boomers started strong, jumping out to a 15-11 lead midway through the first quarter on the outside shooting of CJ Bruton and Brad Newley, while a defence anchored by its big front line forced Team USA to settle for outside jump shots.

Team USA hit only three of 18 three-point attempts.

"I think we made it a little hard on ourselves by not moving the ball around as much, we did not make our outside shots tonight as well as we have done in the past," Wade said.

Team USA finished the first quarter only up 22-19, forcing US coach Mike Krzyzewski to go with a small line-up in the second of James, Carmelo Anthony, Bryant, Wade and Chris Paul.

Although the "small ball" began with a series of bad passes and turnovers, the US side exploded with a 14-2 run over a three-minute span, with James netting 10 of the points on a variety of spectacular jams and a three pointer.

Playing without Bogut, who is sidelined with a sore ankle, left the Boomers wondering if the outcome would have been different had he played.

"He certainly would have helped," Anstey said. "He's our best player."

Last week in the FIBA Diamond Cup, Australia jumped out to an 18-point lead against reigning Olympic champs Argentina, only to lose 95-91 after a ferocious comeback by the South Americans.

Team USA showed their strength Sunday, powering past European champion Russia 89-68 following lopsided wins over Canada, Turkey and Lithuania.

The Americans have won 12 Olympic gold basketball medals, but took the bronze in Athens in 2004 while playing poorly in the 2002 and 2006 World Basketball Championships.

Team USA begins its Olympic quest against China on August 10, kicking off a tough Group B that includes Spain, African champions Angola and European powers Greece and Germany.

Australia is in group A, with Argentina, Lithuania, Croatia, Russia and Iran.