In other Wednesday games, Russia clobbered Australia and Greece outplayed China to advance to the next round.
U.S. 134, Puerto Rico 83. The U.S. Dream Team II, led by Shaquille O'Neal and Reggie Miller, added some flash to a game that would otherwise have been more of a snooze than a dream.
O'Neal scored 29 points, 25 of them in the second half and 20 of them on dunks, while Miller bombed away for 28, outscoring the entire Puerto Rican team in the first half 26-25.
"Shooters shoot, dunkers dunk," said Miller of a game in which the United States had 19 dunks and 19 3-pointers.
"The big fella went about his business tonight," said teammate Larry Johnson of O'Neal, the giant young center for the Orlando Magic whose dunks often came as the Puerto Ricans simply stood by and watched in awe.
Russia 103, Australia 76. Sergei Babkov scored 19 points to lead Russia to victory. Russia (2-0), which swept its three opening-round games, dominated Australia from the start, taking a 20-10 lead 7.5 minutes in and then scored the next 12 points for a 23-point lead with 9:01 left in the first half.
Babkov had 13 points in the opening 10 minutes, hitting two 3-pointers to complement an inside game that made 21 of 28 shots in the first half.
Russia led 55-30 at halftime and kept the margin throughout the second half. Andrei Fetisov, a second-round draft pick of the Boston Celtics this year who has since been traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, added 18 points for Russia and Vitaly Nasov had 15 points and eight rebounds.
Shane Heal scored all of his 18 points from 3-point range to lead Australia (0-2), while Andrew Gaze had 17 points.
Croatia 92, Canada 61. Dino Radja scored 25 points and Arijan Komazec added 22 as Croatia crushed Canada.
Radja, who plays for the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics, shot a blazing 12-for-15 from the field, Toni Kukoc of the Chicago Bulls scored 15 and acted as playmaker for most of the game, and 7-foot-1 Stojan Vrankovic, a former Celtic, patrolled the middle, pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds and blocking five shots.
Croatia, with an NBA connection of its own, is a strong candidate along with Russia to finish second behind the United States in the tournament.
Greece 77, China 61. Panagiotis Fassoulas was 7-for-8 from the field and had 20 points to lead Greece to victory.
Greece and Croatia, both unbeaten in two quarterfinal games, will play Friday night with the loser most probably facing the United States in the semifinals.
Greece led 48-43 with 13:07 to play when it went on an 11-2 run. Fassoulas scored the final six points for a 14-point lead with 8:47 left.
Zheng Wu hit a 3-pointer for China (0-2) 42 seconds later, but that was as close as it got the rest of the way. Panagiotis Giannakis and Giorgis Sigalas each had 15 points for Greece, which went 2-1 in the opening round. Zheng finished with 19 points, while Wu Naiqun had 13 points and 10 rebounds. (Reuters, AP)
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