After rolling their first four opponents in exhibition play by at least 20 points, Team USA found its most difficult competition on Tuesday in the form of Australia, who were without their star big man Andrew Bogut, who missed the game with an injured ankle. Australia is the last opponent Team USA will face before the official Olympic games start up this weekend.

The game’s opening tip was commanded by Team USA, and before the blink of an eye Kobe Bryant hit a tough fadeaway jumpshot while being fouled in the act. Australia came right back with CJ Bruton hitting a 3pt shot in the face of Jason Kidd after he made a nice crossover to shake free. The majority of the 1st quarter was defined by sloppy play by Team USA. Careless turnovers, forced passes, no ball movement, and inoppertune jumpshots by Bryant and Carmelo Anthony. Australia did a very good job of tipping lazy passes and forcing some turnovers. And on broken plays, Australia was quicker to the ball. Twice in the 1st quarter there were broken plays, which resulted in easy layups/dunks for Australia, as most of Team USA was running down the floor for the transition bucket rather than fighting to gain control of the ball. To add insult to injury, after Bryant hit that first free throw of the game, the team missed 4 in a row from the line.

The star of the 1st quarter was Australia’s Patrick Mills, who beat Kidd and Chris Paul time after time off the dribble, and made plays for both himself and others. He dropped 7 points and added an assist coming off the bench in the 1st quarter. He was electric for Australia.

However, in the closing minutes of the quarter, Dwyane Wade came off the bench and gave the team some separation as he scored on 2 layups, hit Chris Bosh for an open dunk, and at the end of the quarter hit 2 of 3 free throws after being fouled behind the arc as time was expiring.

End of 1st quarter: United States 22, Australia 19

Once again, the quarter started off with a bang when Bryant tipped a shot around the rim, fell into Deron Williams’ hands, who got it to Wade for the easy transition dunk. However, the sloppy play commenced once again, with Williams committing a turnover, which led to a Bruton jumper. The 3pt shooting was also at a standstill, with Michael Redd, Bryant and Anthony all missing some 3pt shots. Ineffective ball movement plagued the team much of the quarter. They made passes simply to pass, rather than making passes for the purpose of getting an open shot opportunity. The team’s poor dribble penetration and off ball cutting defense, both lacking in the previous 4 exhibition games, continues to be a major problem as Australia often didn’t have a very difficult time scoring on the Team USA defense.

However, the defense did pick up about midway through the quarter, led by Bryant’s tenacious play. His steal and assist to James for the dunk sparked a streak of 5 possessions where they forced Australia into 4 turnovers. As a result of the great defense, like in each and every game this team plays, asy transition buckets followed. With the great defense and easy scoring opportunities, Team USA finally seemed to take control of the game.

The quarter ended with James going nuts. First, he hit a midrange jumpshot about 2ft within the 3pt line, and then he buried a transition 3. A few possessions later he missed a 3, but got the ball back and hit the layup while taking the hit for the 3pt opportunity. He scored 8pts in a row for the team, which expanded the league. He iced the quarter off with a stunning block, which sent the ball 3 rows into the stands.

End of 2nd quarter: United States 44, Australia 29

The 3rd quarter didn’t started off with Australia making a huge comeback. David Barlow hit a 3 to start the quarter off, and then a minute later he hit another 3. A Bruton 3 followed Barlow’s pair of treys. Barlow then made a great backdoor cut for the easy layup, which cut what was once a 15pt lead to 4.

After shaking off the cold start to the quarter and barrage of 3’s by Australia, Bryant and Anthony came back and a hit a few jumpers to bring the lead back up to 9. However, Australia then answered by continuing to light Team USA up in the halfcourt, with back cuts and dribble penetration by Mills ripping the defense apart. Anthony and Dwight Howard kept the lead around 10pts however with 2 strong finishes at the rim.

Wade once again was a big spark off the bench. In the last few minutes of the quarter, he made a terrific pass to Bosh for the dunk, as well as a crafty layup. James also made a beautiful zip pass to Bosh for yet another easy finish at the rim. The quarter ended with Wade once again drawing the foul as time expired, and hit 1 for 2 at the charity stripe.

With Team USA’s poor defense and struggling halfcourt offense, Australia outscored them in the 3rd quarter 26-21.

End of 3rd quarter: United States 65, Australia 55

The 4th quarter started off with Redd heading to the rim for the tough layup, a rarity for him so far in international play. As Australia started to heat it up once again, Wade was there to keep the game out of reach. To kick off the 4th he drove the lane for a layup, blew past his defender and gave it to Howard for a dunk, hit a jumper on the baseline, and finished it off with a layup after Bryant fit a tough pass through the defenders.

Mills continued his strong play, hitting a jumper and tough layup to give Australia some hope. But, Paul had his best quarter of the game, and hit 2 tough flip shots in the paint as well as an assist to Howard. The game ended with another stunning block by James as time expired.

Final: Unites States 87, Australia 76

While Team USA won the game against a quality opponent, it was not a strong effort. The team showed little energy the entire game, played very carelessly, and overall just seemed to be going through the motions with the real Olympic games coming up this weekend. The kind of effort the team displayed on Tuesday is very discouraging since it is their last real tune-up before they get the opportunity to redeem themselves, as well as this country, for the poor showing in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. There were a few bright spots, but they looked sloppy and out of sync, which cannot happen against elite international teams like Spain, Greece and Argentina. If the team wants to win gold, they have to play better than this.

Dwyane Wade scored a game-high 22 points, who shot 8-12 from the field and also added 3 rebounds. LeBron James added 16 points, 4 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks, while shooting 7-12 from the field. Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince and Jason Kidd combined for a dismal 10-32 shooting, forcing Wade, James, Howard and Bosh to pick up all the slack. The team finished shooting 50.8% from the field, 16.7% from 3pt distance, and 60.6% from the free throw line.

For Australia, Patrick Mills and Chris Anstey both contributed 13 points. David Barlow and CJ Bruton add 12 and 11 points, respectively. The team shot 47.5% from the field, 40% from downtown, and 58.8% from the free throw line.

Team USA resumes play on Saturday, August 10th at 10:15am ET when they play Olympics host country China.