SHANGHAI, China — Russia contained the speedsters. Controlled the backboards. Everything a team needs to do to beat the United States.
Except stop Kobe Bryant.
Bryant provided the offense in the U.S. Olympic team’s first defensive struggle, scoring 11 of his 19 points in the third quarter of an 89-68 victory on Sunday.
“They had some gaps there and I just took advantage of them. The ball found me and I was able to make them pay,” Bryant said. “In that kind of situation where the game is kind of seesawing back and forth, we have so many weapons. It could be LeBron, it could be D-Wade, one of us is going to kick into high gear.”
The sellout crowd of 14,523 at this arena built for tennis clearly favored the U.S. team, and Bryant clearly was the fans’ favorite. They chanted “MVP!” when he went to the free throw line, booed when he was called for an offensive foul in the second quarter, and generally oohed and aahed whenever he squared up to take a shot.
“It feels like home away from home,” Bryant said. “It’s great to be so far from Staples Center and still have so much support. I feel like I’m home.”
Carmelo Anthony added 17 points in what was by far the Americans’ most competitive tuneup yet for the Beijing Games.
The United States had been scoring 118 points per game while winning its first three exhibitions by an average of 41 points. Russia allowed far fewer fast-break baskets than the previous U.S. opponents, successfully keeping the game in the halfcourt by grabbing 12 offensive rebounds and forcing the Americans to run more offensive sets.
It was the perfect blueprint to beat the gold medal favorites — and the Russians still lost by 21. But can other teams in Beijing pull it off?
“They can try,” James said. “Russia did a good job of slowing us down a little bit, but we still made our run at the end of the third quarter.”
Dwyane Wade continued his strong play off the bench with 16 points for the Americans, who play their final exhibition game Tuesday against Australia.
Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko scored 18 points for the Russians.
“If you take a look, in past games, the American team, most points they score is fast breaks and its dunks. I think for the most part we contained the ball,” Kirilenko said. “For the most part I think we did a pretty good job to stop them.”
The defensive tone of the game brought an early entrance of Tayshaun Prince, who had played little in the first three games. Kirilenko had an early block on Anthony’s shot, but the Americans pulled away to a 29-17 advantage on Deron Williams’ 3-pointer with about four seconds left.
Russia kept the deficit right around 10 for most of the second quarter before Wade gave the Americans some breathing room before the half. He followed his soft running jumper with a steal and dunk, making it 43-29, and his free throw in the final second extended the lead to 46-31.
The Americans were held to just 17 points in the period, their worst quarter yet, after sprinting past Canada, Turkey and Lithuania in their first three games.
“I think that’s why they schedule these games,” Wade said. “Russia is a team we could see in the gold medal game and a team that’s been playing very well of late, so it was good competition. They made us run some sets, slow us down a little bit, but I think overall we played good defense.”
Bryant hadn’t been looking for his offense on the tour, averaging only 11.7 points — sixth-best on the team — while focusing his efforts on defending the top perimeter threat. But it was needed Sunday, since he’s the Americans’ best halfcourt player.
“That’s where he shined tonight. Halfcourt offense,” U.S. guard Michael Redd said. “Just did a great job of being aggressive, so he played well.”
Bryant’s 3-pointer early in the third gave the Americans a 20-point cushion, but Russia cut it down to 12 barely two minutes later. Bryant responded with the next three U.S. buckets to keep it from getting any closer, and Wade and Redd combined for the final 10 points of the period to bump the lead back to 71-51.
Wade came in averaging 17.3 points in 18.7 minutes per game, showing he’s fully recovered after missing the last 1½ months of the NBA season after surgery to repair his left knee.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Sylvia Fowles scored eight of her 13 points during a late fourth-quarter run to lead the Americans to a 84-74 victory over pesky Latvia on Sunday night in the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament in Haining, China — a tuneup for the Olympics.
Unlike past U.S. women’s basketball teams, this group has not had much playing time together due to injuries, overseas commitments, and the WNBA season. They were only able to start training for the first time together last Monday and are still working on developing chemistry on the court.
At times the U.S. players looked to be in total harmony, scoring at will and containing Latvia. At other times, the Americans struggled, turning the ball over and missing defensive assignments that led to easy baskets.
Anete Jekabsone scored 24 points to lead Latvia.
Tina Thompson finished with 12 points for the U.S. Sue Bird and Seimone Augustus each added 11.
TRACK &FIELD: Now that world record holder Usain Bolt has committed to running the 100 meters and the field of sprinters is set for the Olympics, Wallace Spearmon is ready to make predictions.
“Those guys are talented and they’ve worked pretty hard this year,” Spearmon said Sunday, speaking of Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, the headliners in the 100. “I honestly think Bolt can run 9.6, I think Asafa can run 9.6 and a healthy Tyson can run 9.6.”
The world record, of course, is 9.72, set by Bolt in May.
The Olympic record is 9.84, set by Donovan Bailey in 1996.
“I think 9.8 will be like sixth place” this year, Spearmon said.
Spearmon isn’t competing in the 100; he missed qualifying for the final by .001 seconds at Olympic trials.
GYMNASTICS: American gymnast Chellsie Memmel hurt her right ankle while training on the floor exercise Sunday, but is still expected to compete in Olympic team competition next weekend.
USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny said in a statement that Memmel’s status was being monitored daily. The U.S. women compete in team qualifying next Sunday.
Their three alternates, Ivana Hong, Jana Bieger and Corrie Lothrop, are training in Tokyo, available to make the 3½-hour flight to Beijing if needed.
Memmel is the 2005 world champion but has fought through a series of injuries during her career. A broken foot caused her to miss the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
More recently, she has struggled with shoulder and foot injuries, but came back in time for the Olympic qualifying period and impressed Karolyi, the team coordinator, to easily make the team.
BASEBALL: Brandon Knight struck out 10 and Matt LaPorta and Mike Hessman homered in the second inning to lead the United States to a 9-1 pre-Olympic exhibition victory over Canada on Sunday in Durham, N.C.
Nate Schierholtz homered for the second straight game, a grand slam to highlight a five-run eighth for the U.S. Terry Tiffee also homered for the Americans, who have outscored the Canadians 16-3 in winning two straight in the four-game tuneup for Beijing. The Canadians won the opener 4-3 in 10 innings.
Knight, who at 32 is the oldest player on the U.S. roster, allowed two hits in five scoreless innings and retired 15 of 18 hitters. He struck out seven in a row before Emmanuel Garcia — the last batter he faced — managed to fly out to center field.
OPENING CEREMONIES: Rain threatens to dampen Friday’s opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
The show will go on, however, rain or shine, according to Wang Hui, spokeswoman for the Beijing organizing committee.
“We have done some rehearsals, and in one rehearsal we encountered periodic rain,” she said. “That may have turned out to be a test for us. So we are very confident of producing a successful opening ceremony.”
Meteorologists will only say there is a chance of rain. A more precise forecast is expected on Wednesday.
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