The first step: US blows open contentious game against Aussies

For Team USA it’s one down, two to go.

The spunky Australian team stayed with the US for more than a quarter but fouls and a 38-14 third period kept the Boomers from hanging around. The final score of 116-85 belies how competitive the game was early on.

Australia trailed by just one after the first quarter but the US slowly built the lead to 12 in the second. The second half began with a 14-0 US run and the game was over at that point.

One of the stranger elements of the game came in terms of rebounding. Australia had a number of very tall front court players but lost the rebounding battle 57 to 28. Entering this game the US had only been out-rebounding opponents by 1.8 boards per game, mostly due to their smaller lineups.

The final numbers make it look like both teams shot decently from beyond the arc but when the game was competitive that was just not that case. The Aussies would have needed to shoot very well from distance (something the had done in the tournament) to stay in it and could not.

Guard Patrick Mills was one of the few bright spots for Australia as he could help start a run every time he stepped on the court. The Australian big men could do little as foul trouble plagued them for most of the game.

LeBron James was rebounding and dunking like a manic but it was Kobe who in was a barometer for the play of the US. Kobe seems to need to hit some lay-ups before his shooting kicks into gear. Once his gets on a roll from 3-point range it really is over.

Kobe’s early play however was a cause for concern. He and D-Wade fired up a number of fade-away mid-range shots which they did not convert at a high clip.

Is that really necessary? They can get that shot any time they want at it really is pretty low percentage. Only a few players in the history of the game have been somewhat efficient fading, and Kobe is not on that list.

As for the US centers, it was weird that Dwight Howard came out grabbing boards and drawing fouls but missed free-throws and turnovers kept him form playing more than 14 minutes. Chris Bosh was spectacular again, scoring 15, moving in transition and just putting himself in position to make easy dunks and lay-ups.

The US free-throw shooting woes continued with a 58-percent performance. Australia’s success came when they kept turnovers down early. It was a spurt of giveaways that fueled the US runs in the late second and early third quarters.

Another odd theme in this game was how the Aussies tried to get under the skin of the US. They made sure to knock down the Americans frequently and words were frequently exchanged with either opponents or refs.

To that end the Australians also showed little respect in the friendly meeting between theses teams by referring to the NBA stars by their number rather then their names. This apparently enraged the members of Team USA.

Is that really the best response? These players have more money, respect and play in a far better league than most of the Aussie players. Why they would let something as stupid as not knowing their names both them is beyond me.

Then again, Coach K referred to the Greek players by number after losing in 2006.

Now the US can sit back and wait to see who there next opponent will be.