United States 98 France 71: Mean Dream Team demolish Les Bleus in Games opener

The United States lived up to their dominant reputation with a rout of France in their opening game of the London Olympics.Although the French, who have plenty of NBA-calibre talent in their squad, were able to match them for the first quarter, the defending champions quickly began to wear them down thereafter.A one-point gap at the end of the first had become a 16 point deficit by half-time, before nearing 30 in the final minutes.Though it was from a France turnover that Kevin Durant dunked to give the Americans an early 6-2 lead, Les Bleus were impressive in the first quarter.Ronny Turiaf responded with a dunk of his own, and Nicolas Batum then got in a great block to deny Durant an easy lay-up.France's Tony Parker, still recovering from a scary eye injury that led to surgery last month, looked off the pace early on as he missed early shots, but it was his lay-up and free throw that brought France back into touching distance at 13-10.After Kevin Seraphin got in a block to deny Russell Westbrook, Yannick Bokolo nailed a three-pointer on the buzzer to leave France 22-21 down at the end of the first quarter.But the second quarter was another story as the United States began to impose themselves, with Kobe Bryant and Kevin Love coming to the fore.Bryant inspired an early 11-0 spurt that had them 33-21 up on Chris Paul's three-pointer, and Love then took over, playing strong defence and scoring a quick lay-up and three-pointer that sent them 43-28 clear.James Harden's fine pass set up LeBron James for a loud dunk that made it 50-36 shortly before half-time.Durant hit a three to start the second half and after another from Bryant, Tyson Chandler's dunk gave the Americans a 60-38 advantage.With France beginning to struggle the Americans threatened to turn the game into an intrasquad dunking contest, with James and Carmelo Anthony slamming them home in quick succession.Things got worse for France when Batum left the court appearing to have a problem while Seraphin's attempt at a dramatic dunk flew back off the iron.They were running out of ways to contain the Americans, and a preparation period Parker had described as 'terrible' due to injuries and other problems affecting the squad caught up with them in the face of the United States' depth.The score was 78-51 at the end of the third quarter and the Americans began to ease off down the stretch with the likes of James and Bryant taking to the bench.In came James Harden to score a big dunk, as well as Anthony Davis, a 2012 draft pick of the New Orleans Hornets who became the first player without NBA experience to appear for the United States in an Olympic Games since Emeka Okafor in 2004.Durant led the Americans with 22 points while Love had 14 and Bryant 10. Durant added nine rebounds.Ali Traore had 12 and Parker 10 for France.