BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Carmelo Anthony scored 17 points, Kobe Bryant added 14, and the United States rolled to a 112-69 victory over Venezuela on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, in its opening game of the FIBA Americas tournament.
"I think tonight we really wanted to be aggressive from the get," Anthony said. "That was real important. I think tonight that was our main goal, to go out there and dominate. Not try to embarrass, but dominate, and I think we did a good job at that."
Michael Redd also had 17 points, Amare Stoudemire scored 16 and Dwight Howard 12 for the Americans, who are now 27-0 in the regional Olympic qualifier. The Americans face the U.S. Virgin Islands in the final game Thursday night.
Bryant was making his long-awaited international debut, while Anthony was the leading American scorer last year at the world championships. They needed a little more than a quarter to show they could be a formidable duo.
Jason Kidd and Howard started along with James, Bryant and Anthony, the three starters coach Mike Krzyzewski had already named. All 12 players saw action in the first quarter, which ended with the Americans up 21-8 after some shaky shooting.
Bryant was scoreless and Anthony had only four points in the opening period, but they didn鈥檛 stay quiet for long. Both scored seven points in a 16-6 spurt early in the second quarter that broke open the game and extended the lead to 39-16 on Bryant鈥檚 3-pointer with 5:23 left in the first half.
The Americans led 54-34 at halftime, and the advantage ballooned into the 30s after the starters outscored Venezuela 14-2 to open the third quarter. James鈥檚teal and breakaway dunk made it 68-36.
Greivis Vasquez tallied 12 points for Venezuela, which will face Canada on Thursday.
