Americans rout China to stay unbeaten at World Championships

Yao scored 21 points, but was limited to one field goal in the first half when the game was still close. The Houston Rockets star sat out the United States’ exhibition victory in China earlier this month because of a broken left foot.

His return to the court gave the Chinese hope, with Yao five inches taller than the Americans’ tallest player on the roster — forward Brad Miller.

However, Mike Krzyzewski is not widely noted as a master tactician for nothing. The Duke mentor played two centers at a time and had players foul Yao when he had a clear avenue to the basket.

Krzyzewski also utilized the team’s superior depth, playing all 12 players in the first half to wear down the short-handed Chinese.

Dwyane Wade poured in 26 points, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard donated 16 points apiece and Chris Paul had 13 points for the United States, which improved to 2-0 in Group D play following a 111-100 victory over Puerto Rico on Saturday.

Krzyzewski was unhappy with the team defense on Saturday, and the players responded by quickly getting out on shooters and bottling up Yao on the interior.

LeBron James collected 11 points for the Americans, who quickly built a double-digit advantage and led by as many as 36 points. The United States is now tied with Italy for first place in the group with the Chinese manning the basement with Senegal (0-2).

In other marquee matchups, Venezuela topped Nigeria, 84-77, and Turkey edge Australia, 76-68. Greece also knocked off Lithuania, 81-76, in overtime to remain unbeaten.

Wade stripped this contest of any drama late in the first half, scoring the team’s final 11 points, including a driving layup that just beat the buzzer for a 63-38 lead.

That followed a dominating first period from the Americans, who pushed out to a 32-17 edge at the end of the stanza.

China tallied the first 10 points of the second half, including eight from Wang Shipeng. Wang totaled 17 points in the contest.

However, James scored seven of his 11 points during a 10-3 spurt that increased the advantage back to 22 points, ensuring the United States of improving its unblemished record versus China in World Championship play to 5-0.