London 2012 basketball



Lebron James
Lebron James.

Smith



The Team USA national basketball team comes into its first game of Olympic medal round play as 33.5-point favorites (via Bovada.lv) after crushing their Group A competition en route to a 5-0 record.The U.S. squad is led by Kevin Durant, whose 18.6 points per game led the way for Team USA, and LeBron James, who has put up consistent virtuoso performances in London.
Australia comes in led by Patty Mills, whose 20.2 points per game is second among all Olympians, but boasts little else after an injury forced center Andrew Bogut out of these Olympic Games.The talent disparity is so high in this matchup that it would take a complete meltdown for Team USA to come home empty-handed. How can the U.S. avoid that meltdown?
Follow along for a look at five ways the U.S. can avoid losing to Australia.
Celebration 2008 Olympic.
The 2008 USA Team celebrates after defeating Spain and capturing the Olympic gold medal. Nine members of that team are back in the fold with the National Team for 2010-12. (NBA Photo)