Americans finally hoop it up U.S. nets easy win, will battle Spain in quarterfinals

ATHENS, Greece -- Before the hard part begins against Spain, TimDuncan and the U.S. basketball team got a taste of what the good ol'days were like at the Olympics.

Finally playing an opponent they were able to handle with ease,the Americans finished off the preliminary round with an 89-53 routMonday against Angola. With a quarterfinal matchup against Spaincoming up Thursday, Duncan said he thinks the worst is in the past.

"I'm really confident in the way we've been playing," he said. "Ithink we've learned a lot through this tournament, and I think we'rein a great position."

The United States finished the opening round 3-2, beating Greeceand Australia in addition to Angola (0-5) and losing to Puerto Ricoand Lithuania. Under point-differential tiebreakers, the Americansfinished fourth in their group.

"We wish we could have won some more and played better againstLithuania and all that good stuff, but we didn't," Duncan said. We'rein the position we're in right now, and we're happy with where we'reat."

After a series of tough games in which he was doubled-teamedconstantly, Duncan finally found some room to maneuver againstAngola. He scored a team-high 15 points in only 13 minutes, and theAmericans dominated the boards 52-17 before a crowd that included NBAcommissioner David Stern, who watched from a seat 10 rows behind theU.S. bench.

Shawn Marion took the U.S. team's first three-point attempt earlyin the second quarter and made it for a 28-14 lead, and LeBron Jamessank another to extend the edge to 33-14. The Americans finished 3-for-6 from behind the arc and shot 33-for-60 overall.

"The only negative, I thought, was we turned the ball over a lot[12 times] in the first half, which has plagued us a lot," U.S. coachLarry Brown said.

The Americans led 46-26 at halftime before Duncan scored theirfirst six points of the third quarter. An alley-oop reverse layup byRichard Jefferson off a pass from Allen Iverson got the lead up to 30less than four minutes into the second half.

James and Carlos Boozer each added 11 points and Iverson 10 forthe U.S. team.

AP