The US national team overcame the suspensions of three of their key players, including co-captain Allen Iverson to beat Puerto Rico in a friendly exhibition game in Jacksonville, Florida 96-71.

The US rushed off to a big lead right off the bat and led by as many as 17 points in the first quarter. Puerto Rico stormed back with some tight man to man and zone defense and by hitting timely 3 point shots to bring the game back within 9 at the half.

The first half was mostly about feeding the ball inside to Tim Duncan who either finished the play himself or found the open man after being double teamed. Dwyane Wade and Stephon Marbury did a good job of moving the ball around unselfishly and both finished the half with 5 assists in what was an excellent test by the Puerto Ricans who put up a very nice fight for most of the half.

In the 2nd half the US started to pull away quickly after  using a full court press to force turnovers and convert easy baskets in transition. The Puerto Ricans shots stopped falling and Carlos Arroyo had a very difficult time controlling the tempo of the game. The US went with their best athletes for most of the way and constantly pushed the ball up the floor and finished effortlessly around the basket due to their superior athleticism.

Larry Ayuso was Puerto Rico's best player and he almost singlehandedly kept them in the game with his five 3 pointers until they fell apart midway through the third quarter. Ayuso was called for his fourth foul a little later and at that point the game was essentially over.    

Dwyane Wade was the best player on the floor today, finishing the game with 7 points and 8 assists, many of them to Duncan who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, mostly in the first half when the game was still close. Lamar Odom also had a good outing, playing excellent defense, moving the ball around, posting up his man and doing many of the little things needed on the floor.

The US had trouble with Puerto Rico's zone defense, especially when they were forced to play a half court game. Wade's emergence helped open things up on the floor as he penetrated to the basket at will and found his teamamtes time after time for easy buckets. The US will also need to work on their perimeter defense which looked very shaky at times, forcing Duncan to leave his man a number of times to rotate over for the stop.

The US will now board a flight to Cologne, Germany to continue their exhibition schdule against Italy on August 3rd in a game that will be televised on ESPN at 2 PM EST.