Opals cruise to comfortable opening win

Updated July 29, 2012 10:47:19

Australia has recorded an easy 74-58 win over host nation Great Britain in its opening Olympics women's basketball game.

Opals star Lauren Jackson led the way with 18 points, while veteran Suzy Batkovic chimed in with 12 as Australia dominated from start to finish against an outmatched British side.

Australia led at every quarter as Jackson and fellow star Liz Cambage dominated a host side roared on by a partisan crowd.

The Opals face a tougher test next time out against Group B opponent France, which downed Brazil 73-58 in its opener.

Meanwhile, the US its Olympics winning streak to 34 games spanning 20 years with an 81-56 win against Croatia, but it is not a streak that matters to coach Geno Auriemma.

"Right now, the only winning streak that we're talking about is try to win one in a row, eight times. If we can get that streak, then we'll be really happy," Auriemma said about a stretch of victories that would clinch London gold.

"We're not going to think about what the other teams did in the Olympics.

"That's not who we are, that was somebody else."

Winners of the last four Olympic titles since their last Games loss in 1992, the US survived a scare on the opening day of competition from Croatia, which is competing in the Olympic women's tournament for the first time.

The Americans led by just three points at intermission and by 53-47 going into the final quarter before pulling away as they wore down the game Croats with their depth of talent.

"It's the 12 best players in the world," Croatian coach Stipe Bralic said.

"Maybe the best women's team in the world ever.

"We played very well for 30, 32 minutes. But it's a 40-minute game."

In other results, EuroBasket champion Russia closed with an 18-3 run to overtake Canada 58-53, Turkey beat Angola 72-50 and China claimed a 66-57 win over the Czech Republic, silver medallists at the last world championships.

ABC/Reuters

Tags: olympics-summer, sport, basketball, england, united-kingdom, australia

First posted July 29, 2012 09:24:44

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Bulls stifle Heat in opening win

Posted May 16, 2011 15:18:00

The Bulls' defence contained LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to set-up an easy 103-82 victory over Miami Heat in the opening game of their Eastern Conference Finals series in Chicago.

Chicago's Derrick Rose, the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP), scored 28 points but it was the Bulls' defence that really stood up, limiting Wade to 18 points and James to 15.

The third member of Miami's 'Big Three', Chris Bosh, managed a play-off high 30 points but the Heat will have to find a way to improve their offence before Game Two of their best-of-seven series in Chicago on Wednesday (local time).

For the Bulls, their triumph was a continuation of their regular season domination over Miami when they won all three match-ups.

But despite their track record and status as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, Chicago found itself viewed as the underdog against Miami heading into the series.

"There are a lot of opinions out there, but we're not getting caught in that," said Bulls forward Luol Deng, after finishing with 21 points and playing suffocating defence against James.

"We've won 62 games. We know we're a good team. In order to win you have to think you're the best."

The Bulls were clearly at their best during a dominant second half where they outscored the Heat 55-34.

They seized momentum in the third period where they used a 10-0 spurt to turn a one-point deficit into a 67-58 advantage, then let loose in the fourth with three-pointers and vicious dunks as their home fans celebrated the rout.

After overcoming the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics in the second round series, Miami found a much different challenge in Chicago.

The Heat were pounded inside where the Bulls tallied 31 second-chance points to just eight for Miami.

"That will wear any team down," said James, who made just five of 15 shots.

"You play defence hard, then they get an offensive rebound and kick it out for a lay-up or a dunk, those are demoralising for a defence. We have to figure out a way to clean that up."

- Reuters

Tags: sport, basketball, united-states

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