LeBron, Amare, Redd and Kobe help get USA Basketball within one win of Beijing.

USA 117 – PUERTO RICO 77

Both teams played hard. But in the end Team USA was too much. “We wanted to try to play as aggressive as we can on our defensive end,” stated Lebron James after the game. “We want to try to better ourselves, to play as hard as we can.” He finished with a team-high 21 points to go with 4 boards and 4 assists. That effort seems to be the difference between this year’s US Team and that of the last few years–Coach K has the team playing hard, focused basketball on both ends for forty minutes. Team USA added to their lead in every quarter except the third, in which both teams tallied 29 points. The US big men were a force, with Amare Stoudemire dumping in 12 points and pulling down 8 boards; Tyson Chandler blocked 4 shots. Michael Redd and Kobe Bryant added 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Deron Williams dished out 7 assists to go with 8 points. Team USA advances to the semi-finals where they’ll look to remain unbeaten.