Team USA continues to fly high

Another day, another round of batting practice for Team USA at the FIBA Americas Championship.

This time, Puerto Rico served as the cannon fodder as the Americans dunked the islanders into submission Tuesday night during the second round at the Thomas & Mack Center, 117-78.

Whether it was Amare Stoudemire or Dwight Howard flushing the ball home from close range or LeBron James soaring through the air on solo forays and finishing off alley-oop lobs from Kobe Bryant, the fans were treated to a healthy dose of Showtime.

But more important for the team, Tuesday's win clinched one of the four spots in Saturday's semifinals. Team USA will play at 4 p.m. Saturday, and a win in the semis secures a berth in next summer's Olympics in Beijing.

Team USA (6-0) faces a mental challenge when it meets Uruguay at 8 p.m. today on ESPN2 (Cable 31). With a spot in the semis secure, a much-anticipated showdown with Argentina looming Thursday night and Uruguay hitting the skids following a stunning 88-79 loss to Venezuela on Tuesday, it will be up to the Americans to not suffer a letdown in what is an obvious look-ahead situation.

"I think we want to keep getting better and Saturday will take care of itself," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We want to go into Saturday undefeated and be the top seed."

Bryant said there will be no letdown tonight.

"We want to take care of business throughout," he said. "The focus is on getting better. We're ready to go. Every day."

James, who scored 21 points Tuesday, said, "We're constantly testing ourselves. Nothing against Puerto Rico, but we're trying to compete against ourselves, trying to push each other to be better."

As has been the case virtually every game the USA has played in this tournament, there was a big second-quarter run that created a wide separation between the Americans and their opponent. This time, it was a 24-4 spurt to start the quarter.

Stoudemire started it with a slam followed by a 3-point field goal from the left corner.

It snowballed from there as Puerto Rico tried to stay in contact via the 3-pointer, only to go 1 for 9, the same as it had in the first quarter. Puerto Rico had just three field goals the entire second period, which explains why it was on the short end of a 59-27 score at halftime.

The 35-12 second quarter helped produce the largest halftime margin for Team USA so far, eclipsing its 31-point edge over Canada last Saturday.

"I'm just trying to be aggressive and make something happen," said Stoudemire, who finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and one heads-up play when he knocked a Puerto Rico shot off the rim, which is allowed in international basketball. The move led to a 3-pointer by Carmelo Anthony.

The other constant for Team USA was its unselfish play. Going into Tuesday's game, the Americans had 126 assists with just 50 turnovers. Against Puerto Rico, the numbers were similarly lopsided -- 26 assists and four turnovers.

Krzyzewski went back to his usual starting lineup with Jason Kidd at point guard and Howard at center. Tayshaun Prince got to test out his left ankle and appeared to have no problems in 19 minutes with seven points and six rebounds. Prince sprained the ankle against Brazil last Sunday.

The only real drama, if you could call it that, came midway through the third quarter when Bryant jawed at 7-foot-3-inch Peter John Ramos after Anthony was fouled hard. Nothing came of it and Bryant, who would sit out most of the second half with four fouls, finished with 14 points.

"It was no big deal," Bryant said of his verbal joust. "I just told him it was a hard foul and basically said, 'Hey, play basketball.' They don't need to be talking all sorts of stuff. Just play."