On Thursday, the U.S. exorcised some demons by avenging its only loss of the last three years with a convincing 92-69 victory over Greece at the Wukesong Culture and Sports Center. The win clinches the U.S. a spot in the quarterfinals and puts the Americans at 3-0 in pool play, tied atop the Group B standings with Spain, which they will play on Saturday.

With Greece next on the U.S. Team's schedule after defeating Angola on Tuesday, there was no doubt that the semifinal loss to the Greeks at the 2006 World Championships was on the mind of every American player.

"Embarrassment," Carmelo Anthony said after Thursday's game. "That's all I remember. We had it in the back of our minds."

But even though six of the nine players in the rotation Thursday were there in 2006, this is an entirely different U.S. Team.

These players are more mature. They're more experienced in the ways of FIBA basketball. They have a nice addition to the roster in the person of NBA MVP Kobe Bryant. They had the motivation of avenging their only loss in the last three summers.

And they showed it all on Thursday.

While defense was a weakness in the 2006 game, it was a strength this time around. The U.S. swarmed Greece with full-court pressure and tenacious pick-and-roll traps, forcing 25 turnovers and holding Greece to just 41 percent shooting.

Greece was able to execute its pick-and-roll on occasion, but most of the time, the U.S. defended it well, forcing a turnover or at least keeping the Greeks from getting a clean look at the basket.

But with about four minutes to go in the first quarter, as Sofoklis Schortsianitis found position down low for a layup and foul to put Greece up 13-9, the game was looking a little like a repeat performance of that game two years ago. That's when the U.S. defense forced four Greece turnovers over the next four minutes to finish the period on an 11-3 run.

They kept it going in the second quarter. It started with Dwyane Wade's deflection in the backcourt that turned into the play of the tournament so far. Wade dove out of bounds to save the ball and threw it toward the basket, where Bryant caught it and threw it down for one of most improbable alley-oops you'll ever see.

After that, there was Anthony stepping into a passing lane for a steal and, when he couldn't finish the fast break, there was LeBron James with a putback throwdown.

There was Deron Williams and Chris Bosh trapping Vassilis Spanoulis at midcourt and James coming out of nowhere to intercept Spanoulis' pass and throw down a head-at-the-rim reverse that seemed to be powered by all that 2006 frustration.

The Americans forced eight Greece turnovers in the period, with big men Bosh and Dwight Howard combining for three steals and a block on pick-and-roll traps or switches on the perimeter. The U.S. finished the second period on a 22-8 run to go up 19 at the half.

"That is what we try to do," Bryant said, "We try to get out and get after guys. When the opportunity presents itself, we want to get out in the passing lanes, get some steals, get some deflections and try to force them to take low percentage shots."

The U.S. didn't let up after that, forcing 12 more Greece turnovers in the second half, including on five straight possessions early in the fourth quarter. The Americans never let Greece put together enough of a run to make the game remotely interesting.

"It's relentless pressure," Williams said. "It comes from all angles. We are so deep that of one guy gets tired, somebody else comes in and picks up right where the first guy left off."

To stop Greece, you need to keep its talented trio of guards - Spanoulis, Theo Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis - contained. And the U.S. did just that. Papaloukas led Greece with 15 points, but Spanoulis and Diamantidis combined to shoot 4-for-17 from the field. And the three guards combined for 14 of Greece's 25 turnovers. The U.S. was also able to limit Greece's ball movement, and held it to just 10 assists for the game.

Hitting just seven of its 20 shots from downtown and shooting just 57 percent from the free throw line on Thursday, the U.S. still has some offensive issues to address. But as always, it flourished in transition and shared the ball well, assisting on 23 of 36 field goals.

In addition, Bryant recovered from his struggles of his first two games in Beijing, where he hit just 1-of-15 attempts from beyond the arc. On Thursday, he finished with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 2-of-5 from downtown.

"At first it was kind of difficult for me to adjust to being a spot-up shooter," he said. "But they told me just go out there and be you, be the Black Mamba. When I got that message, it was a lot easier for me to just go out there and play and I just do what I do best."

His team did what it does best as well - play defense. So say what you want about the Americans' inability to shoot from outside or execute against a zone. Because in order to beat them, you still have to score more points than they do.

And they're determined to not let that happen.

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