Canada serves as familiar foil for Americans

Anyone who saw the Americans destroy Canada last year in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament must have thought it was deja vu. The slam dunks. The fancy passes. The barrage of 3-point shots, all resulting in another lopsided win for the Americans, 120-65.

Yes, it was fun for Team USA to reminisce. In fact, the only difference between Friday’s rout and last year’s 113-63 demolition of the Canadians is that 13,000 more people attended this one. Of course, they didn’t have to pay $1,500 to get in this time, as was the case last year when FIBA tried to gouge the locals. Twelve bucks did the trick Friday.

“For our fifth day of practice, we showed a lot of energy,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said after Team USA began a five-game exhibition schedule leading up to its Beijing Olympics opener Aug. 10 against China. “I like the effort we had at the defensive end, and the last three quarters, we were more in sync.”

With billionaires Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Steve Wynn among the sellout crowd of 18,498, and wannabe billionaire LeBron James watching from the bench with a sprained right ankle, the NBA millionaires in red, white and blue aimed to please. As sloppy as they were at times early, they were also dazzling later, finding each other with pinpoint passes and finishing with crowd-pleasing dunks.

Team USA forced 24 turnovers and limited Canada to seven assists. Canada scored only nine points in the fourth quarter.

As the 55-point margin clearly shows, the Americans had no trouble scoring, putting six players in double figures. Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Michael Redd had 20 points each, and Kobe Bryant supplied 15.

Canada actually led 2-0 after former UNLV center Joel Anthony made a 14-foot jumper over Dwight Howard. But that was all the glory Canada (or Anthony) would find. Team USA’s vastly superior talent quickly took over as Krzyzewski mixed and matched lineups, getting everyone enough minutes to contribute.

He played point guards Chris Paul and Deron Williams together. He put Carlos Boozer in the post. He made sure Redd got plenty of shots, and the Milwaukee Bucks star hit 6 of 8 3-point attempts. Team USA led comfortably, 61-38, by halftime, and the rout was on.

Paul was particularly spectacular. The New Orleans Hornets guard missed out on last summer’s qualifying after left foot surgery. On Friday, he got up and down the court swiftly, hitting teammates with on-the-mark passes, scoring 11 points and dealing eight assists in 23 minutes.

“It’s fun,” Paul said of playing alongside Williams. “We’re both unselfish and we like to play off each other.”

Williams was no less brilliant, finishing with 14 points and five assists in 21 minutes.

“Our main goal is to bring pressure and raise havoc with the other team,” Williams said. He and Paul combined for four steals.

As in last summer’s game in Las Vegas, the Canadians were overmatched. But this time, Team USA’s lineup was vastly different. Wade, Paul and Chris Bosh didn’t play last year in the FIBA Americas tournament, and James never got on the court Friday.

“Anytime you play the USA it’s a challenge,” Canada coach Leo Rautins said. “You could see it unravel real early. A couple of turnovers, a dunk or two and it gets away from you very quickly. It’s obvious they’re the most talented team in the world, and I don’t think we’ve seen the best from them yet.”

Krzyzewski agreed.

“We’re still developing this team,” he said. “This process goes through Macau and Shanghai until we get to Beijing. They’re still getting to know each other.”

Perhaps. But they don’t look like total strangers either. Just ask the Canadians.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.