Bogut limped off the court at the end of the game, only pausing to tell reporters that he had severely rolled his left ankle as he stepped on Bryant's foot and that he was planning on having an MRI done Thursday morning.

U.S. players said there was too much offensive freestyling going on in the first half, and that the Americans reverted back to their strength — stifling defense — after Williams' buzzer-beating trey at the half gave them a cushion.

"We have the ability (to play) any style of basketball — we can press you, we can play zone, we can switch on the pick and rolls," said Boozer. "Everything that we do comes down to defense.

"I don't mean to keep talking about defense, but that's the key to our victories — defense," he continued. "If we play great D like we did in the second half tonight, we can play anybody."

Or pull away from anybody.

"We didn't think that this team could play with us," added Williams, stating that the U.S. managed a meager pre-Olympics exhibition victory in Shanghai over Australia because the Americans were trying a few new wrinkles and were anxious to get the real Beijing show started.

"So we just wanted to come out," he added, "and show them that they couldn't play with us."

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