US humble China

The millionaire stars of the US basketball team swept past hosts China in the showcase match-up of the Olympics, watched by tens of millions on Chinese television and cheered on by US President George W. Bush.

Talismanic giant Yao Ming, flag bearer for China at the opening ceremony, could not protect his colleagues from the speed and power of the NBA professionals.

Ming, who plays with the Houston Rockets, scored 13 points in the 101-70 loss to the US in what was billed as the most watched basketball game in history.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, the NBA's Most Valuable Player, won a huge cheer from the star-dazzled home supporters but the loudest shout from the raucous 16,000 crowd was for Ming, China's favourite athlete along with 110m hurdler Liu Xiang.

The Americans will face a tougher test in their other Preliminary Group B matches against world champions Spain and a tough Greece side that stunned them in the world championship semi-finals in 2006.

Argentina's defence of their Olympic men's basketball title suffered a blow when they were upset 79-75 by Lithuania in their opening game.

Led by Manu Ginobili, Argentina wiped out a 12-point deficit to tie the game at 75-75 before Denver Nuggets forward Linas Kleiza nailed an off-balance three-point shot with 2.1 seconds left to seal a nail-biting win for Lithuania.

Spain, in contrast, had too much firepower for Greece in their Beijing Games opener, rolling to an 81-66 victory.

Earlier, Dirk Nowitzki's Germany overpowered Angola, while European champions Russia thrashed Iran.