LONDON -- Late in the first half Tuesday, the United States' men's Olympic basketball team was struggling with only a five-point lead against Tunisia. And Tunisia, never before an Olympic entry, even had a couple of early leads.
Not exactly Dream Team stuff.It was only a 13-point margin at halftime, so coach Mike Krzyzewski started the reserves to open the second half. That's when showtime began. Final score: 110-63.Coach K insisted he planned to start the second unit even before the lackluster first half, and said there was nothing bad about the performance."It's not going to a perfect thing, you know?" he said. "But overall tonight was good. I mean, come on, it was 110-63."Carmelo Anthony, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Andre Iguodala opened the third quarter with a 21-3 run, turning it into a 67-36 lead before any of the more celebrated starters finally got to play in the second half."That was a great lift, man. That's the best thing about this team, there's no dropoff," said Kevin Durant. "We've got All-Stars off the bench. Those guys did a great job for us."Anthony and Love scored 16 points apiece. Durant had 13 and rookie Anthony Davis dunked his way to 12.The Americans, 2-0 with Nigeria up next on Thursday, were 17 of 22 (77 percent) on 2-pointers in the first half, but missed 10 of their 12 3-point shots. But the second half turned into a dunkfest.BrieflyWomen's soccer: The U.S. clinched first place in its group with a 1-0 win over North Korea as Abby Wambach scored in the 25th minute for her 141st international goal and third of the tournament. Wambach and Co. then celebrated by coercing goalie Hope Solo to get on the ground and do "the worm." Nearly 30,000 attended the first women's game played in 23 years at Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United.Tennis: Andy Roddick lost 6-2, 6-1 in 54 minutes to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France needed much longer to advance against Milos Raonic of Canada, winning 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 -- the longest set in Olympic history (three hours, 257 points).Andy Murray and Marcos Baghdatis also won men's matches. Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams were among the women's winners.Beach volleyball: Americans Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser rallied for a 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 victory against Spain and remain unbeaten in the preliminary round. Defending world champions and top-seeded Emanuel and Alison of Brazil also won, beating Switzerland.Men's volleyball: Clay Stanley scored 16 points and the defending Olympic champion U.S. team improved to 2-0 in pool play with a three-set victory (25-23, 25-16, 25-20) over Germany.Equestrian: Zara Phillips gave the royal family plenty to cheer about, helping team Britain to a second-place finish behind Germany. Princes William and Harry and William's wife, Kate, were in the stands to watch their cousin as she competed in the show jumping final portion. Phillips' mother, Princess Anne, watched, too, then presented her daughter and the rest of the winners with their medals.Water polo: Ryan Bailey and Peter Varellas scored three goals apiece and the U.S. men recovered from a slow start to beat Romania 10-8.Field hockey: Shannon Taylor scored late in the first half and the U.S. upset No. 2-ranked Argentina 1-0 in women's play.Skeet shooting: Vincent Hancock, a 23-year-old U.S. Army sergeant, successfully defended his Olympic crown with a score of 148. Hancock's win gave the U.S. a skeet sweep after Kimberly Rhode won the women's competition.