14-08-2008

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Team USA Gets a Taste of Redemption Against Greece »

Powerful dunks. Ridiculous rejections. LeBron leads the team in moves meant only for video games. It’s official now. This is NOT Japan and the 2006 World Championships, not to mention Athens and the 2004 Olympics. This is Beijing and the 2008 Olympics, and the U.S. is back in men’s basketball. These Americans, who looked so lost two years ago at the World Championship in Japan, appear to have found their Olympic way in China. “Every night we want to play well, but we got better as a team tonight,” said Wade, who augmented his six steals with 17 points, three rebounds and five assists in just 20 minutes. James’ line was equally impressive (13 points, six rebounds, six assists, three blocks), Bosh finished 7-for-8 for 18 points with five rebounds, and Bryant tied for a game-high 18 points. “When we can get a stop on the defensive end and get out and run, until you get out on the court with us you can’t really understand how fast we are as a team,” James said. So with this piece of redemption out of their way, the Americans now must turn their focus to an even better team that awaits them late Saturday night, Beijing time (10:15 a.m. ET). The opponent is Spain, which also sits at 3-0 in these Olympics, and the size and talent level will be much bigger than what Team USA faced in Thursday night’s 92-69 victory. Info via ESPN.

Photos Copyright Notice: Copyright 2008 NBAE via Getty Images. Photos by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images, Jeff Gross/Getty Images.