Olympics: U.S. beats China 101-70 in Olympic opener

BEIJING — This was the stuff a Dream Team is made of. Acrobatic moves, reverse slams and tomahawk dunks. Who needs outside shooting? Just toss it up and throw it down.

The United States opened its campaign for Olympic basketball redemption Sunday with a 101-70 rout of host China that had even the home crowd oohing and aahing.

Dwyane Wade lobbed one up to LeBron James on a fastbreak, James caught it in midair with one hand and in one motion, slammed it home.

Kobe Bryant drove to the basket a couple of times for tomahawk dunks, sending the crowd into a frenzy each time.

And not to be outdone, Wade had a behind-the-head, back-to-the-basket two-handed dunk of his own.

This wasn't a game, this was a spectacle.

And the fans, including President Bush, got what they came to see.

"Look, I had five dunks in one game. That's because of the crowd. Last time I had five dunks in a game I was like 17. So that's all because of the energy in this crowd," Bryant said. "I think they knew that history was being made tonight and obviously it was a proud moment for their country as it was for ours. You could feel the electricity."

Wade scored 19 points and James had 18 for the Americans. Bryant finished with 13 points.

But the score didn't matter in this All-Star game setting.

"It was our first game. We were very anxious. We missed shots that we normally would hit. But at the end of the day, you win by almost 30 points, you've got to take good things out of that," Wade said. "We played very, very hard. We give ourselves a chance defensively every night. That's what it's all about with us."

China's Yao Ming, All-Star center for the Houston Rockets, started the showcase by drilling a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the first score of the game.

The Americans made 21 of their first 25 shots inside the 3-point arc, though they had another inept night behind it. Still, with James, Wade and Bryant repeatedly getting out on the break, the poor 3-point shooting wasn't a problem on this night.

"We came out a little tight. We knew that it was going to be a very emotional game for both teams, especially China, playing in front of their home crowd," U.S. forward Chris Bosh said. "We withstood the storm, we calmed down and we just played a lot better basketball."