USA – Coach K’s Team USA turn up defensive pressure on Canada

LAS VEGAS (Olympics) – The United States didn’t have LeBron James but they still blew out Canada in their first friendly ahead of the Beijing Games.

Finishing off the training camp in Las Vegas with a game against their FIBA Americas rivals, Mike Krzyzewski’s team rolled to a 120-65 triumph.

Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Michael Redd poured in 20 points apiece. Hurt by their inability to knock down open three-pointers at the Athens Games four years ago, Redd had no trouble in that department by drilling six of eight.

Overall, the Americans were 11 of 22 from behind the arc.

Miami Heat star Wade, who missed the last several weeks of the NBA campaign to rest his surgically-repaired knee, said: “There were some things we did well and there are some things we can work on, but the best thing is that we played together, and did it at both ends of the court.”

Against Canada, a team that played at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens but only reached the quarter-finals, the US appeared to be as strong as ever.

 “We got after them defensively and when LeBron comes back, it’s going to make us even more explosive as a team,” Wade added.

Defense has been the emphasis of Krzyzewski during his legendary career as the coach of Duke University, and it’s clearly what he is stressing to the American players.

When asked if Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz and New Orleans playmaker Chris Paul would play together at the same time in Beijing, Krzyzewski said: “When these two guys are in together, either one of them can bring the ball up and either one of them can pressure the ball ...

“I was telling them that needs to be a strength of our team when the two of them are in together – we can pick up (full-court pressure) a little bit better and try to wear some people down.”

The USA play Turkey on Thursday and Lithuania on Friday in Macao, China.

The Americans are in Group B of the Olympic basketball event with hosts China, FIBA World Champions Spain, African champions Angola, and both Greece and Germany – two of the sides that reached Beijing via the qualifying event Athens.

FIBA