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Team USA continues exhibition slate in China

GHANGZHOU, China - The road show is under way for Team
USA.

Continuing its preparation for the World Championships, the
United States basketball team has made its trek to the Far East,
where it will spend the next month trying to re-establish its
dominance.

In the first of five exhibition games Thursday, Team USA rolled
to a 114-69 victory over Puerto Rico. That game was in Las
Vegas and the last on friendly soil - and in front of familiar
faces.

"It was a long trip, especially on the heels of a great game in
Vegas, so we are all a little emotionally drained," Houston
Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "We're excited about
regrouping and going after it here."

The players on Team USA are traveling without their families and
close friends, who must make their own arrangements and will
not be allowed to travel with the team until the quarterfinals
of the World Championships.

"Our families aren't here, obviously, so it's just the guys and
we're having fun," Battier said.

On Monday, Team USA faces China. The nations are in the same
group at the World Championships and likely will use this game
to take a long look at each other.

China is led by 7-5 center Yao Ming, a four-time All-Star with
the Rockets who is coming off the best season of his career. He
also is coming off a broken foot but said recently that he
expects to play against Team USA.

Yao could present some problems for the Americans, who have just
one 7-footer - Brad Miller of the Sacramento Kings - on their
roster.

"We'll have to adjust, especially if Yao plays," said Denver
Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored 18 points in the
exhibition opener. "With him being so tall and being so good,
we'll have to adjust for him."

However, Team USA used superior athleticism to blow out Puerto
Rico and should have a similar advantage against China, which
finished eighth at the 2004 Olympics, losing five of seven
games.

The Americans should face a stiffer challenge here Tuesday when
they face Brazil, which has a roster littered with players with
NBA ties.

Team USA travels to Seoul to take on Lithuania on Sunday and
host Korea on August 15. After those games, coach Mike
Krzyzewski is expected to make two cuts to reduce the roster to
12 for the World Championships, which begin August 19.

Krzyzewski also must select a captain and revealed that Class of
2003 superstars Anthony, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are among
the finalists.

"Certainly the three players you mentioned will be given good
consideration," he said. "But we need leadership from
everybody."

At the outset of training camp in July, Krzyzewski - the first
college coach put in charge of the national team since the
advent of the NBA era in 1992 - said the goal was for the
Americans to re-establish themselves as the dominant team in
international basketball.

In 2002, the U.S. finished an embarrassing sixth at the World
Championships, losing an astonishing three times despite the
presence of NBA stars. It was more of the same at the 2004
Olympics, where the Americans lost three more games and settled
for the bronze medal.

The fall from the top prompted wholesale changes within USA
Basketball, including the appointment of managing director Jerry
Colangelo and a tryout process which had not been used since
the 1980s.

"The USA has not given the World Championships as much credit or
influence as they should have and we are taking it very
seriously," Colangelo said.

In the World Championships, Team USA is in Group D with Puerto
Rico, China, Senegal, Slovenia and Olympic silver medalist
Italy, which routed the Americans in an exhibition prior to the
2004 Games.

Only the winner of the 24-team World Championships and the
Olympic hosts automatically qualify for the 2008 Games in
Beijing. If Team USA does not win the World Championships -
which it has not done since 1994 - it must qualify through the
2007 FIBA Tournament of the Americas in Venezuela.

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