SHANGHAI, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - United States basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski described his team's lacklustre 87-76 win over Australia in their final Olympic Games warm-up as the side's 'worst performance'.

Unlike their previous three tune-ups, the group of NBA superstars could not blow out the Boomers, falling into defensive lapses and shooting poorly from both three point range and the free throw line.

'This was our worst effort. I wouldn?t say effort, this is our worst performance,' said US coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Tuesday game.

'I don?t think we were as sharp as we have been. I don?t think we played very well or not up to what we can play.'

With the US hitting only three of 18 three-point attempts and making just 60 percent of their free throws, Australia stayed in the game behind long-range shooters CJ Bruton and David Barlow who punished the Americans mostly from the outside.

'We are not happy at all with the way we played. I think we could have done much better,' said Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant.

'We are going to play much better defense. I think you have to give some credit to the Australian team, because they executed very well.'

Bryant finished with 13 points, while Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade chipped in 22 and Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James netted 16. Denver Nugget forward Carmelo Anthony scored 12 while snaring 10 rebounds.

Team USA is vying to end an eight-year international drought stretching back to Sydney 2000 with embarrassing flops at Athens and two World Championships that came as global basketball improves.

The 12-time Olympic basketball gold medalists have dubbed themselves the 'Redeem Team' as they try to retrieve their former domination.

But Tuesday's match showed that such domination may be a thing of the past.

'We broke down on defense and let the other team get open looks,' NBA scoring champ James said.

'We can?t have mental breakdowns like those because these teams are tough and really know how to shoot the ball.'

Australia began the third quarter down 44-29, but a three-pointer by swing man Matthew Nielsen pulled the Boomers within four at 48-44 with six minutes left in the period silencing the largely pro-US crowd.

Barlow finished with 12 points while centre Chris Anstey scored 13 points for Australia who played without their best player Milwaukee Buck centre Andrew Bogut, sidelined with a sore ankle.

Team USA will open Olympic play on Sunday against hosts China and will also face world champions Spain, Greece, Germany and Angola in Group B.

On Sunday, the US powered past European champion Russia 89-68 following lopsided warm up wins over Turkey and Lithuania.

'The last two games the ball has been sticking a little bit, so we have to get back to looking like the first games where everybody was touching the ball and we were playing like we should,' said point guard Jason Kidd.

'We?ve won four games here and now it?s a matter of winning eight games in a row,' he said of what Team USA must do to win the gold medal.

In Group A, Australia will face Argentina, Lithuania, Croatia, Russia and Iran with the top four teams in each group advancing to the medal round.