BRING ON THE AUSSIE'S

After passing back-to-back tests against the elite teams of Europe, the U.S. men's basketball team probably could have beaten overmatched Germany wearing lederhosen to close the preliminary round of the Olympic tournament 5-0. Dwight Howard scored 22 points and LeBron James had 18, 16 in the first half, Monday as the United States completed an undefeated march through pool play.

The Americans were scoring so easily, they practically got in each other's way. Chris Paul led a 3-on-1 break and threw an alley-oop that could have gone to either James or Dwyane Wade. James jumped higher and got it to lay it in, then stepped outside to hit his second 3 for a 23-5 bulge. Up 19 after one, the U.S. scored the first eight points of the second to make it 39-12. The lead was 28 after James drilled 3-pointers on consecutive U.S. possessions, and ballooned to 30 for the first time when Dwight Howard scored four straight to make it 49-19 with 3 minutes left in the half.

The U.S. isn't ready to crown themselves the next big thing, a la Phelps. At the moment, the Americans are thinking about their quarterfinal game against Australia, the last team to push the U.S. Also, Spain plays Croatia at 2:30 a.m. Lithuania plays China at 4:45 a.m., and Argentina plays Greece at 10:15 a.m. The U.S. knows Australia is a physical team that lost by just 11 when the two countries played an exhibition game in Shanghai on Aug. 5. They kept it close despite not having their lone NBA player, Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut, available for the contest.

When the quarterfinals tip off tomorrow, everybody is 0-0. Should the Americans lose, they won't even end up with a medal - as happened to Spain in 2004, after they went unbeaten in pool play. Watch TEAM USA lift their basketball game to an entirely different competitive level against the Aussie's.

Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Michael Redd scored 20 points apiece Friday as the USA dominated Canada 120-65 in a Beijing Olympic basketball tune-up.

Chris Paul handed out eight assists for the United States, who will play two warm-up games in Macao and two more in Shanghai before their Olympic opener in Beijing against hosts China on August 10.

Although Canada may not have been serious competition it did look like Team USA played very solid from as an overall team aspect. TEAM USA looked like one big "dunk" highlight reel with Chris Paul taking over the front court.

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James injured his right ankle in a scrimmage Tuesday when he landed on the foot of reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant. As a result, James did not play on Friday, but he wasn't needed as the United States outscored Canada 34-18, in the third quarter en route to taking a 95-56 advantage entering the final period.

"I thought for our fifth day of practice we showed a lot of energy," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Guys are committed to playing defense. I liked the effort we had on the defensive end of the court. We're still developing this team. The more the game went along, the more comfortable they became. We got a commitment to protect each other's back. We're collectively responsible on defense."

The United States are vying to regain international basketball glory for the first time since claiming Olympic gold in 2000. Team USA was embarrassed en route to winning bronze medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 World Championships. Since then, the team has been restructured. USA Basketball hired veteran NBA executive Jerry Colangelo to build the squad and appointed iconic Duke University coach Krzyzewski.
Players since have had to commit to Team USA for three years to foster the kind of continuity other international teams possess.