1 Aug 2008

James and Bryant fire up USA

11:27 am on 1 August 2008

NBA basketball stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have starred as Team USA stepped up their preparations for the Beijing Olympics with a 114-82 rout against Turkey in Macau.

James, who has already guaranteed the long-awaited Olympic gold, has been his team's top-scorer with 20 points as Bryant supplied seven assists.

Team USA are bidding to end an eight-year international drought stretching back to the 2000 Sydney Olympics with embarrassing flops at Athens 2004 and two World Championships along the way.

USA open their Olympic campaign against Yao Ming's China in a hotly anticipated clash on August 10.