BEIJING — LeBron James simply knocked aside overmatched Angola players like a schoolyard bully, going wherever he wanted on the basketball court.
Now come the teams that can push back.
Dwyane Wade scored 19 points, James dominated the game with his size and strength on both ends, and the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team wrapped up the easy portion of its schedule with a 97-76 victory Tuesday night.
The Americans (2-0) face Greece on Thursday. Greece is the team that stunned them two years ago in the semifinals of the world championship. The Greeks are physical, and they should provide the first test of these games for the United States.
“I’m expecting this game right here to be tough,” U.S. forward Carmelo Anthony said. “They know that we’re coming back to redeem ourselves and I’m pretty sure that they watch us a lot.”
Dwight Howard added 14 points and James finished with 12 for the Americans, who had another rough night from 3-point range but don’t appear to be stoppable in the open court. Wade was perfect from the field in Beijing until missing in the third quarter.
Though Anthony said the Greece game “has been circled on my calendar for about two years now,” James said it wasn’t hard to concentrate on Angola.
“We’ve got veterans, we’re preparing ourselves, every night we’re showcasing what we’ve been doing the last three years getting ready for this moment,” he said. “So we can’t afford to go out and be lackadaisical.”
The United States improved to 4-0 against Angola, starting with the Dream Team’s Olympic debut in 1992. That romp is best remembered for Charles Barkley’s elbow to an unsuspecting Angolan player in a 116-48 victory.
Carlos Morais scored 24 points for 0-2 Angola, which went down almost as easily this time around. The final margin was much closer thanks to some U.S. concentration lapses in the second half.
“We were not looking ahead. I thought we played with really good energy in spurts and played some really terrific basketball,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Our goal wasn’t to win by a certain margin. It was to really work hard and keep up our pressure and then once that was done, we just worked on a few other things. The main thing was just to keep some consistency, so overall I was very pleased with tonight.”
After the Greece game Thursday, the Americans face world champion Spain, who are also 2-0 after rallying to beat China in overtime behind 29 points from Pau Gasol.
Long before this rout started, the Americans were already looking ahead.
Krzyzewski and his staff were seated behind the baseline about 5½ hours earlier for a look at the Greeks, who shut down Germany over the final three quarters while pulling away for an 87-64 victory.
Greece stunned the United States 101-95 two years ago in the semifinals of the world championship in Japan. This U.S. team is deeper, and James is a whole lot stronger.
James hadn’t done much offensively midway through the second quarter when he made his presence felt on the other end, jumping so high to block Felizardo Ambrosio’s shot that it looked more like a volleyball spike, with James glaring back at the fallen Ambrosio as the ball went out of bounds.
The Angolans were down only seven with less than 4 minutes remaining in the half when James simply muscled them out of the way. After Wade’s 3-pointer, James went all the way for a layup, then knocked Leonel Paulo backward to grab a loose ball and convert a three-point play that made it 47-32 with 2:26 left.
James then came up with a steal and flipped the ball behind him to Chris Bosh for a bucket, then capped a 16-2 spurt with another layup that extended the U.S. lead to 55-34. The Americans were up 55-37 at the break, with James, Howard, Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Bosh all perfect from the field.
The U.S. shooting would have been much better if not for Bryant’s 0-for-5 half, but he quickly got involved in the third quarter with eight points, highlighted by a spinning, 360-degree dunk on the fast break.
The Americans lost some concentration on the defensive end, allowing Angola enough open looks to keep it from becoming too much of a blowout for a while. Eventually they pulled away to win almost as easily as they did in a 101-70 victory against China on opening night.
Anthony also scored 12 points for the United States. Every U.S. player but Jason Kidd scored, but the Americans were only 5-of-21 from behind the arc after they hit just 7-of-24 against the Chinese.
“It’s been a struggle,” Bryant said. “I think we have to adjust to being spot-up shooters, all of us. We’re not acclimated to being spot-up shooters, so that’s something we have to tweak a little bit and get used to.”
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