It was their worst performance of the five games leading to Beijing. It was a win, but it was far from convincing, as Australia, playing without their best player, gave them multiple scares before falling 87-76 at Qizhong Arena Tuesday night.

The Bucks' Andrew Bogut was sidelined with a right ankle strain, so Australia kept the floor spread in his absence. They moved well without the ball to keep the aggressive U.S. defense on its heels at times, making runs in every quarter to never let the U.S. open the game up like it had against its previous four opponents.

Meanwhile, two of the U.S. Team's main scoring weapons, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, struggled offensively, combining to shoot just 7-of-22 from the field. As a team, the U.S. shot just 3-of-18 from three point range and just 61 percent from the free throw line.

Australia played man defense the entire game, but sagged in the paint, not allowing the U.S. to get the dribble penetration that had been a key for them in previous games. And the U.S. offense was out of sync from the start, committing five turnovers in the first quarter.

"We came out slow," Jason Kidd said after the game.

Meanwhile, Patrick Mills came off the bench for Australia and caused problems for the U.S. defense with his quickness, scoring seven points and dishing out one assist in the first, while also drawing two fouls on Chris Paul up top.

As a result, Australia led 17-13 with less than three minutes to go in the period. After the U.S. finished the quarter on a 9-2 run to go up three, neither team could buy a basket early in the second. But thanks to more offensive struggles from the Americans, Australia was within one, 26-25, midway through the period.

That's when the U.S. found a burst of energy and turned up the pressure, forcing four Australia turnovers on five possessions, sparking a 12-0 run to take back control of the game. They led by 15 at the break.

But like any good horror movie, the scares are never over when you first expect them to be. And Australia began the second half with a 13-2 run, which included two threes from David Barlow and another from C.J. Bruton, to cut the U.S. lead down to four.

"We came out lazy," Dwyane Wade admitted after the game. "What we're good at is really pressuring guys, and we just kinda let them run their offense, let them move the ball around. If you let a team do that, especially a team that knows each other the way that this team does, they're gonna eat you up. And they moved it around until they got the shot they wanted."

The score remained close for the remainder of the third quarter, with the U.S. only getting their lead back up to double-figures with a Wade free throw with 0.7 seconds to go in the period.

But, with the U.S. scoring on just two of their first seven possessions of the fourth, their lead was back down to seven just a few minutes later. Finally, thanks to Paul finding holes in the Australia defense down the stretch, they were able to hold off their scrappy opponent without the game ever really getting in doubt.

There were some positives to the game, like Wade's performance. He led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, showing the explosion that he's had since the beginning of training camp.

"He continues his streak," Deron Williams said. "He can get to the basket at will, and his jumper's falling too. D-Wade's been probably our most consistent guy night in and night out for this team. Him and LeBron."

LeBron James scored 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, but he made his biggest impact on the defensive end, picking up five steals and three blocks. But his energy was not typical of the U.S. squad.

Still, after the game, some U.S. players put a positive spin on their struggles.

"We just didn't make shots," Michael Redd said. "But if you don't make shots and you still win by double-digits, you're still happy. Imagine if we make shots."

"At the end of the day," Wade said, "we won the ball game. We found a way to win."

But an outside observer will look at this as a game gone wrong for the U.S. And while Australia's sagging defense kept the U.S. from getting into an offensive rhythm, and their ball movement on offense kept the U.S. from getting stops as consistently as they would have liked, this game was more about energy, or the lack thereof, than anything else.

There were stretches of intensity and activity for the U.S. and they buckled down defensively when they really needed to, but it wasn't consistent enough.

It was enough for an exhibition game against a solid, but not great opponent. But it won't be enough for the best teams in the world once they arrive in Beijing. If they play this way against Greece, Spain or Argentina, they'll lose.

"Every game counts from know on," Williams said just before making his way to the team bus, "and we're ready."

We shall see.

John Schuhmann will be covering USA Basketball through the Beijing Olympics. Send him a question or comment.