Jason Kidd walks off the court smiling, reminding everyone that he is still undefeated in international play.

The USA team defeated Team China 102-82 in front of a record setting crowd in the first basketball game played in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Yao Ming, who had 23 points and 12 rebounds, still has not beaten Team USA in international play.

Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 25 points. He also recorded eight rebounds and two steals.

Team USA came out cold in the first 10 minutes of the first half, shooting only 5/18 and making zero three-pointers. Kidd made things worse by handing out five turnovers on five overthrown lob passes.

Coach K  immediately took Kidd out and replaced him with Chris Paul for the rest of the half. Kidd, who was still holding his head high, reminded the bench that he was undefeated in international play and not to worry.

Michael Redd, who replaced Dwyane Wade around the 13-minute mark, did not help either. Redd took six three-pointers within a two minute span, missing all of them.

Luckily for team USA, they were playing China and not Argentina, Spain, or Greece, or else they would have been in a lot of trouble. By the time Redd was taken out of the game with 11 minutes to go in the half, USA was up 28-20.

Many critics were concerned with the fact that Team USA only brought three true big men into the Olympics. Team China started three seven-footers on their team—Wang ZhiZhi, Yi Jianlian, and Ming.

It started to look like a huge height advantage for China, but Dwight Howard quickly reminded everyone that his shoulders were as big as China’s three big men put together.

Howard was one of the main reasons USA could maintain its lead in the first half while the rest of the team shot horrendously. Howard had 15 points and eight rebounds in the first half and finished the game with 21 points and 17 rebounds.

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