Team USA vs. China Thoughts

The United States cruised over China in it's first Olympic game early Sunday morning.

The USA somewhat got off to a sluggish start, but I guess you could say China got off to a rather 'hot' start. China was making nearly every outside shot in the first half despite Team USA winning 101-70.

The USA's defense looked very good the whole game, pressuring China's guards and making Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian earn their buckets. But as the game wore on that ball pressure got to China and they started making some costly turnovers and mistakes.

The USA finally pulled away in the early going of the second half. They were about average on shooting from the outside but in the second half they were nearly perfect it seemed. Dwayne Wade didn't miss a shot as he was 7-7 from the field and was 5-5 on free-throws.

Lebron lead the way with 18 points and dominated China with his sheer athleticism. His strength was too much for the Chinese to handle.

The USA looked great in the second half. Their defense picked up the intensity even more and that created some ease on the offensive end and got them some easy transition baskets.

They made their outside shots which will be vital if they want to come away with a gold medal.

I really think they need to utilize their inside presence a little more. With teams that play a zone on them they need to work inside out instead of outside in. I think Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh will be able to manhandle just about any other big man out there with their strength and pure talent.

But overall, this was a good test and good warm up game for when they have to face Spain, Greece, and Lithuania. They still get one more game against Angola to help them work some kinks out and get some jitters out of the way.

Go USA!

Come back for our first College Football Conference preview later in the day.