Aug. 20, 2008

Box Score | Postgame Quotes | Photos

BEIJING (AP) - Don't doubt this U.S. men's basketball team -- and sure don't challenge them, either.

Especially if it's going to make Kobe Bryant flash his NBA MVP form.

Bryant scored 25 points in his best game in Beijing, and the men's U.S. Olympic team advanced to the semifinals by beating Australia 116-85 on Wednesday night.

The United States will play defending champion Argentina on Friday night for a spot in Sunday's gold medal game. The Argentines beat Greece 80-78 in a quarterfinal victory watched from behind the baseline by Bryant and members of the U.S. coaching staff.

Argentina beat the U.S. in the semifinals of the 2004 Olympics.

Locked in what looked like another tough game in Australia, the Americans sent the Aussies' upset hopes down under with a 14-0 burst to open the second half, featuring nine points from Bryant.

"They stayed with us in the beginning, but that's when we imposed our will," said Chris Paul. "Luckily it's not a 20-minute game, it's a 40-minute game so we get the chance to extend our lead."

Former Demon Deacon All-American Paul played 19 minutes off the bench, totaling seven rebounds, three assists and two points.

LeBron James added 16 points for the Americans, who are guaranteed a chance to play for a medal. They need two more wins for their first gold medal in a major international competition since the 2000 Sydney Games.

"We're not settling for anything less than a gold medal," said Paul. "We understand that it takes 12 guys to win every game. It's so much fun playing with this team because we play with so much emotion and we don't want to lose."

As the US expected, with the gold medal getting closer, the games are getting tougher.

Australia stayed with the United States for the first 15 minutes of the game, duplicating the strong performance it had against the Americans in an 87-76 exhibition loss in Shanghai on Aug. 5 -- a contest the Americans led by only seven points midway through the fourth quarter.

U.S. players picked from a list of excuses, including fatigue from too many games and looking past the game while thinking ahead to Beijing, but it was clear early on that the Australians gained confidence from that effort.

Showing no fear of the Americans, the Australians delivered hard fouls and attacked the basket instead of settling for jump shots. They trailed by just a point after a quarter and five more than halfway through the second -- and would have been closer if not for four missed chippies in the half.

A hard foul on Carmelo Anthony by Mark Worthington late in the second quarter fired up James, and maybe triggered Bryant's burst.

Bryant had two buckets in a late run that turned a five-point lead into a 12-point halftime advantage, then helped the Americans make it a rout to start the third.

He made two 3-pointers and had three more points in the first 3½ minutes of the period as the U.S. lead grew to 69-43. Australia was shut out for nearly half the period, finally scoring on Patrick Mills' 3-pointer with 6:02 remaining.