BEIJING (AFP) — The US team of National Basketball Association stars began its quest for Olympic redemption Sunday with a 101-70 victory over a China team that gave glances of a challenge.
Dwyane Wade scored 19 points, LeBron James added 18 and Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard each added 13 for the Americans but China was impressive early, battling the US stars even for the first 14 minutes of the Group B contest.
US Olympic teams went 109-2 and won 12 gold medals through 2000 but were humbled in 2004 when NBA stars lost three times and settled for Athens bronze, sparking the new bid to reclaim the throne by the self-styled "Redeem Team".
China played surprisingly competitive with the Americans through most of the first half, the US pulling away only with a 20-7 run late in the second quarter on the way to a 49-37 half-time lead.
With an up-tempo style of their own, China showed vast progress over past meetings with NBA squads, showing aggressive defense and deadly 3-point shooting at times.
The much-awaited US-China showdown was expected to reach a global television audience approaching one billion people given the heavy interest in China and the worldwide appeal of the US NBA stars.
US President George W. Bush, his wife Laura and his father, former US president George Bush, plus former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were among the famous faces in the sellout crowd of 18,000 at Wukesong Arena.
China could reach the quarter-finals on home hardwood and improve upon the team's eighth-place Olympic showings in 1996 and 2004, China's best finishes in global competition.
Americans had dominated all nine prior games with China in world and Olympic competition with the most lopsided verdict a 133-70 US win at the 1996 Olympics. China's narrowest defeat was an 84-65 drubbing from the 2002 worlds.
The Americans started James, Bryant, Jason Kidd, Carmelo Anthony and Howard against a Chinese lineup featuring three NBA talents, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian plus former NBA player Wang ZhiZhi.
Had China upset the US NBA stars, it would have been among the great sport shockers of all time. And for a while, it wasn't such a far-fetched notion.
Chinese fans were treated to the trademark high-leaping slam dunks of the fast-paced US squad plus a China team that sparkled early.
Chinese 2.26m giant Yao hit a rare 3-pointer to open the scoring, pumping his fist after the feat, and Sun Yue, who has agreed to an NBA deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, added another to give China a 6-2 edge.
A 3-point play by James gave the US its first lead at 7-6 but Sun hit another 3-pointer and a fast-break basket to put China ahead 11-7. Yao was blocking shots and teammates were making steals to excite the sellout crowd.
Dwyane Wade and James each made spectacular dunks to spark a US run but China stayed close, equalizing at 29-29 on Sun's 3-pointer six minutes before half-time.
That's when the US stars took charge, Bryant nailing back-to-back slam dunks and lobbing a picture-perfect alley-oop pass to James for a slam dunk in a 20-8 run to pull ahead 49-37 at half-time and pull away for good.
The second half saw US speed and depth overwhelm China, which had a brief injury scare for hero Yao. He went down with 2:17 to play in the third quarter and grimaced when he rose before being taken out of the game.
Yao had suffered a broken left foot during the past NBA season that at one time put his Olympic status in doubt, so re-injury fears had some roots. But Yao returned and played well before being pulled to big cheers with 4:45 to go.
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