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The road to redemption from a bronze medal finish four years ago now has to go through the Argentines on Friday.
Kobe Bryant scored 25 points to lead the fast-paced United States men's basketball team to a 116-85 rout of Australia in the Olympic quarterfinals Wednesday night.
It was just over two weeks ago when the Aussies gave the U.S. trouble in an exhibition game, losing by only an 87-76 count. And that was when Australia was without standout center Andrew Bogut.
Wednesday's game was close...for most of the first half and it was physical at times, but led again by the defensive quickness, the U.S. pulled away over the final 20 minutes.
LeBron James added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Carmelo Anthony tallied 15 points in the win. The U.S. busted the game open with 19 unanswered points, bridging the second and third quarters.
"We set in a little bit more defensively," said Bryant. "Once we made that adjustment, we played much better."
Bogut played only 11 minutes Wednesday and had four points. Patrick Mills led Australia with 20 points, and Glen Saville had 13. Australia was outrebounded, 57-28.
"There was stage fright right there mate, definitely stage fright," said Mills about facing a team of NBA stars. "In the end, you just have to see them as ordinary players. You try to come out and put your best foot forward and see what happens."
Just as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird breezed through Barcelona in 1992 to lead the Dream Team to the gold medal, this squad of superstars has crushed every opponent that has come its way. The team won all five of its preliminary round games by an average of more than 32 points.
The road to redemption from a bronze medal finish four years ago now has to go through the Argentines on Friday. That's because Argentina held on to beat Greece, 80-78, in Wednesday night's last quarterfinal encounter.
Howard's jam expanded the U.S. to a 14-5 lead, but the Aussies hung in thanks to swift passing and good outside shooting early, tying the game at 21 on a pair of free throws from Saville.
Ahead by a 25-24 count after the first quarter, the U.S. started to open breathing room in the second with some strong drives to the hoop, frustrating the Aussies. Bryant's emphatic right-handed jam made it 35-30 and Anthony was fouled hard by Mark Worthington, causing tempers to rise, with 3:59 left in the second.
Brad Newly's three-pointer from the top of the arc had Australia within 50-43 with 1:46 left in the half. The U.S. then turned up the pressure and three straight long distance misses by the Aussies, combined with an acrobatic fadeaway shot by Bryant and a Deron Williams pull-up three-pointer at the buzzer, widened the difference to 55-43 at the break.
"We felt that in this game that they were going to live and die by the 3- pointer," said USA guard Jason Kidd of Australia. "They made a couple. We had a couple of defensive breakdowns, but we took care of it. That's the beauty of this team. On the fly we can solve problems without having to call timeouts. Communication is a big weapon for us. Nobody is afraid to talk to one another because we all respect one another."
Bryant and Anthony started the second half with three-pointers. When Bryant nailed another three to end the spurt, it was 69-43 with 6:36 remaining in the third. The spread was 28 points going into the fourth.
Williams and Chris Bosh both chipped in 10 points, while Tayshaun Prince ended with nine. Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard scored eight apiece.
In other action Wednesday, Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 23 points and dished out six assists to power Lithuania to a 94-68 rout of China. Ramunas Siskauskas and Linas Kleiza each tallied 15 points for Lithuania, which will face Spain in the semifinals on Friday. Spain beat Croatia, 72-59, in the first quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Yao Ming had 19 points to pace China. Yi Jianlian had 11 points and nine rebounds, but China managed to hit just 20-of-55 shots from the floor and went 4-of-21 from three-point range.
Conversely, Jasikevicius missed just one of his eight shots and went 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Yao's basket had China within 25-24 with 6:42 left in the second quarter, but Lithuania scored the next seven points and opened a 41-30 advantage at the half. China couldn't get closer than seven in the third, and by the end of the quarter the margin was widened to 70-53.
Pau Gasol recorded a double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to lead Spain to its win. Felipe Reyes added 13 points and Jose Calderon chipped in 10 to help the Spaniards advance.
Marko Banic led Croatia with 15 points and Zoran Planinic added 12 in the losing effort.
Manu Ginobili had 24 points and Carlos Delfino added 23 as Argentina held on to beat Greece. Antonios Fotsis tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds in defeat.
It was a dramatic ending with Argentina nearly blowing the game. Ginobili's knifing layup expanded the lead to 80-75 with 46.8 seconds left, but Panagiotis Vasilopoulos banked in a three-pointer from the top of the arc with 30.5 ticks left.
Ginobili then missed a three-pointer, but after Greece got the rebound Vasileios couldn't connect on a three, straight-away from the basket. Argentina secured the ball as time expired.
© 2008