Fifteen days later, in a game that counted, the U.S. gave a performance more indicative of their ability, trouncing Australia 116-85 in the Olympic quarterfinals at the Wukesong Culture and Sports Center.

And they did it with a slightly different formula than they had used in their five pool play wins. The U.S. had forced an average of 22.8 turnovers per game against Group B, but Australia committed just 11 on Wednesday.

And while the U.S. had outrebounded their pool play opponents by just over two boards per game, they destroyed Australia on the glass, 57-28.

But early on, it looked to be a similar game to the one in Shanghai. With the U.S. shooting just 9-for-22 from the field and 5-for-11 from the line, and Patrick Mills giving them issues on the other end, they led by just one after the first quarter, 25-24.

They picked it up on both ends in the second, forcing three Australia turnovers early in the period while scoring on eight of their first possessions. Still, they didn't dominate defensively like they had in pool play, and it took a Deron Williams' pull-up three at the buzzer to give the U.S. their first double-digit lead of the game, 55-43, at halftime.

But coming out of the break, the U.S. hit their stride. They held Australia scoreless on its first six possessions of the third quarter, with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony each picking up steals. On the other end, Kobe Bryant found his jumper, hitting two threes and scoring nine points on a U.S. 14-0 run to start the half. Going back to the end of the second quarter, the U.S. had scored 19 unanswered.

All of a sudden, it was a 26-point game and the Americans were moving on to the semifinals.

"D-Will hits the shot at the half," Carlos Boozer said, "we had the momentum and we ran away with it."

The U.S. shot a blistering 22-34 from the field, including 9-of-16 from beyond the arc, in the second half. And after recording just two assists on 21 field goals in the first half, they picked up 14 dimes on their 22 makes after the break.

Meanwhile, Australia just turned the ball over three times in the second half, but they shot just 14-of-37 (38 percent) from the field.

Andrew Bogut missed the exhibition game in Shanghai, and he was not a factor on Wednesday. The U.S. went to Dwight Howard down low early and often, and in addition to scoring eight first-quarter points, Howard drew to fouls on Bogut in the first three minutes of the game.

In the second half, Bogut turned an ankle, and finished with just four points and two boards in 11 minutes.

Still, this was another test, against an efficient offense and a team that takes care of the ball.

"I thought they've been the most difficult team for us to defend," U.S. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Their offense is so well-conceived for their personnel."

But the U.S. maintained their poise, and though he had generally struggled offensively here in Beijing, the best scorer in the world showed us why right when his team needed him.

"He had a great performance," Krzyzewski said, "and he came up when we needed it the most, right at the start of the second half."

The first half was their toughest 20 minutes of basketball in the Olympics so far. But opening up the game early in the third kept the game from ever getting too interesting.

"Kobe helped give us that separation," Krzyzewski said.

And in the end, it was another case of a team hanging around for a while, but not being able to sustain their level of play over 40 minutes, because they can't match the U.S. Team's depth. No one can.

"We understand that our biggest strength is our depth," Bryant said. "So we are just going to continue to apply pressure for 40 minutes and try to wear you down."

"There's four quarters to the game," Dwyane Wade added, "and we are deep enough and talented enough where we can wear teams down on both ends of the court."

Bryant led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-16 from the field, hitting four of his seven attempts from beyond the arc. And James added 16 points and, nine boards and four steals.

Next up is Argentina, who defeated Greece 80-78 in a thrilling nightcap, in Friday's semifinal (10:15 a.m. ET, NBC). It's a rematch of the 2004 semifinal in Athens, won by Argentina 89-81. The bronze finish in '04 is why the U.S. turned to Jerry Colangelo, and why he put together the three-year commitment program led by Krzyzewski.

So, if this is truly the Road to Redemption, it needs to travel through Argentina.

"We all want Argentina," Boozer, one of the four current U.S. members who were in Athens, said. "We all want revenge on that game. That's the game that we want to have. I think they want to see us, too. I don't think they're going to back away from us."

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