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James, Wade lead U.S. men's basketball

By Ryan O'Halloran | Wednesday, August 20, 2008

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BEIJING | Kobe Bryant joined for the first time. Jason Kidd returned after an eight-year absence. Sports mogul Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski were asked to correct the course of USA Basketball.

But as the U.S. men rolled through their five-game preliminary round, two holdovers from the bronze-medal winning 2004 team led the way.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have been the two best U.S. players entering Wednesday's quarterfinal game against Australia.

Both players have earned praise for their scoring, defense and leadership as the United States has won its games by an average of 32.1 points.

"They've played so well," Krzyzewski said. "I hate to say just two guys have done it because our team has played really well. But those two guys are playing at the highest level right now."

Wade (16.2 points a game) and James (15.8) are the Americans' top two scorers, and each player has a team-leading 12 steals.

Led by Wade, a reserve, and James, a starter, the United States is three wins from the gold medal. Australia has given the United States its closest game since the team reconvened earlier this summer, an 87-76 American victory Aug. 5.

But the United States has improved as the Olympics have progressed. It labored against Angola before beating Greece by 23, Spain by 37 and Germany by 49.

"It's time to try to win a gold medal," Krzyzewski said. "We don't feel like we're dominant. We feel like we're playing really well. You don't win the game because of cumulative stats. You win it by playing 40 minutes each time, three consecutive times. That's how we've approached it."

Added Wade: "We're getting better and better, and that's the thing - from the first game in [Las] Vegas to now, we're so much better. We're getting to know each other a lot more, and we're starting to see more things. We're getting comfortable in our roles."