DAY ONE FOR MEN IN BEIJING

Yao Ming and China provided plenty of thrills but they were powerless to stop a US onslaught on Sunday.

Dwyane Wade poured in 19 points and LeBron James 18 as the United States, one of the leading contenders for the gold medal at the Beijing Games, won 101-70.

“It was a difficult game against them,” China coach Jonas Kazlauskas said to FIBA.com. “The conditioning level is not the same. There is a very big difference individually.”

With President George W Bush and his father, former President George Bush, looking on from the stands, an electric Chinese crowd cheered for China but was also very enthusiastic about the USA’s NBA superstars as well.

China were excellent in the first half and were level at 29-29 four minutes into the second quarter following a three-pointer from Sun Yue.

The US then shifted their game into a higher gear and outscored China 20-8 up to half-time for a 49-37 advantage.

China tried to stay within striking distance but the US closed the third quarter on a 9-0 run and went into the fourth with a 74-48 lead.

EuroBasket 2007 winners Russia kick-started the men’s competition, handing down a few lessons to FIBA Asia Champions Iran.

American JR Holden continued from where he left – after steering Russia to the title in the European title last year – with a game high performance of 19 points and five steals.

“It was our first game and we were a little nervous,” the CSKA Moscow guard who turned 32 today, said later.

Iran put some pressure on us but overall, we played a good game and got the win we wanted.”

Andrei Kirilenko, who carried the Russian flag in the Parade of Nations during the Olympic Ceremony, was there at hand to provide Holden support – with 15 points along with pulling down five rebounds.

Iran, who seemed well within shot of their much more fancied rivals – trailing by only eight points at the end of the third quarter – withered in the fourth quarter under the sustained pressure.


Croatia
had no trouble whatsoever in beating Australia.

With their outside shooting clicking almost to perfection, the Jasmin Repesa-trained Croats hit three-pointers almost at will, with Marko Tomas succeeding in all his four attempts.

The Oceania outfit outscored their European rivals 29-24 in the fourth quarter, but that proved insufficient to nullify the deficits they had suffered at the end of the previous three.

“Our three-point shooting has been incredible, in the first half we were seven of eight from behind the arc and we finished with a percentage higher than 70,” Repesa said later.

- Spain have played Greece in four important games since 2006 and four times the men from Iberia have won.

The latest triumph, an 81-66 victory for Los Chicos De Oro, came on Sunday on the first day of the Olympic men’s basketball competition in Beijing.

The Spanish went on a 13-2 run late in the first half to take a 35-26 lead and stayed in front the rest of the way.

Argentina staged a dramatic comeback to tie the game but Linas Kleiza drilled a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to fire Lithuania to a 79-75 Group A triumph over Argentina.

The Baltic country did their customary damage from long range by burying 10 of 25 (40%) shots and opened up a 75-64 lead with 3:23 remaining on a pair of free throws from Sarunas Jasikevicius.

But Argentina battled back, aided by some poor execution on offense by Lithuania, and pulled level on a basket down low by Luis Scola with 1:33 to go only for Jasikevicius to spot a wide-open Kleiza at the end for the winner.

In the remaining game, Germany easily accounted for Angola 95-76.






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