Beijing, China (Sports Network) - The undefeated U.S. men's basketball team takes the court against Australia Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Olympics.
Team USA (5-0) defeated Australia, 87-76, in an exhibition contest on August 5 in Shanghai, China, but the Aussies played that game without center Andrew Bogut.
Australia has appeared in a total of 11 Olympic men's basketball competitions, and has three times finished fourth (1988, 1996 and 2000). The United States is 5-0 in Olympic play against Australia, including an 89-79 victory in 2004. The Americans also picked up victories in 1964 (78-45), 1972 (81-55), 1988 (78-49) and 1996 (101-73).
The United States has clearly been the most dominant team in men's action. It has won its five games by an average of more than 32 points.
On Monday, Team USA earned its largest margin of victory in Olympic play with a 106-57 rout of Dirk Nowitzki and Germany at Wukesong Arena. Dwight Howard poured in 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the victory, while LeBron James netted 18 and Kobe Bryant finished with 13 points.
Howard is fresh off his best performance of the Olympics and will try to carry it over against the Aussies.
"They (Australia) execute very well," said Howard. "They play extremely hard. They're a big, physical team. We really got to not give them a chance to run their sets. We need to play our game and do what we've been doing the whole tournament, which is winning, playing great defense and making teams rush."
Team USA has played very well throughout the Games, but is still trying to improve its all-around game.
"We're playing extremely well right now," said Bryant after the win over Germany. "We feel that we can play much better. We feel like we can improve and that's what we're going to try to do."
Australia (3-2) has won its last three games in the Olympics. After losing to Croatia and Argentina, the Aussies racked up wins against Iran, Russia and Lithuania.
The Australian squad will have its hands full with the talented Americans, and said ball control and defense will be the keys to any chance of an upset.
"We can't play into their hands," said Aussie guard Patrick Mills. "If we look after the ball, they can't use their speed. We are both physical teams so we match there. Our strength will be our defense. We will try to get them out of their comfort zone, deny the lanes, limit our turnovers and force them to take jump shots."
Even though Australia is a heavy underdog, it does have a game plan and is confident.
"There is nothing we have that they do not have -- guards, shooters, depth, defense, athleticism," said Australia coach Brian Goorjian. "To win we need a decent shot at the rim late at the clock. We need to play without turning over our shots. At this point in time no one has -- Spain couldn't do it and Greece could not do it."
In other quarterfinal action, Spain (4-1) will face Croatia (3-2), Lithuania (4-1) will take on host China (2-3) and Argentina (4-1) battles Greece (3-2). The winner of the USA/Australia contest will face the victor between Argentina and Greece in the semis.
The winners of Spain/Croatia and Lithuania/China will match up in the other semifinal contest.
Wednesday's winners will play on Friday. The bronze medal game and gold medal game are set for Sunday.
Source: Canada dot com
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