Favorites USA opened their defence of the FIBA Basketball World Cup with an easy 88-67 win over the Czech Republic at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in China on Sunday.

USA fielded Kemba Walker, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Harrison Barnes and Myles Turner as their starting lineup while Czech Republic were led by Tomas Satoransky, point guard of the NBA's Washington Wizards.

USA still had clear problems in team defense and choice-making in offense that allowed Czech Republic some opportunities in the first quarter which ended 17-14. However, the two-time defending champions soon showed their opponents why they are basketball's overlords by extending the lead to 14 points (43-29) in the second quarter.

What did USA do? Simple. In defense, they enhanced ball pressure to sabotage Czech Republic's offense from the beginning and invested more efforts in rebound protection. The latter had two benefits: allowing only one shot by the opponent in each possession; creating a better chance for early offense. In offense, USA increased their assault on the basket instead of doing the simple "shooting and rebounding" play.

None of these was rocket science. On the contrary, USA's game looked more like the original form of basketball – no need for a complex system or thoughtful thinking; just run, leap and put the ball into the basket. Nonetheless, this was not something other teams can copy because only USA have the athleticism and physical condition to pull off this trick.

The second half was no big difference. Though USA remained cold in the first five minutes, aggressive defense and efforts to keep the game at a fast pace wore the Czechs out, not to mention that head coach Gregg Popovich kept changing the team's rotation to maximize their advantage in strength. As a result, the score difference grew slowly but steadily.

One thing should be pointed out is that this is definitely not the best USA team. These 12 young men have only trained together for less than a month – you can tell that they are far from being familiar with each other, especially in defense. However, the best way to know your teammate always lies in the game. USA will not meet much challenge at the opening group stage. Imagine what they will look like in the second round or in the knockout stage.

Earlier on Sunday, Australia defeated Canada 108-92, claiming victory over their first tough opponents in Group H, the "Group of Death" at the Dongfeng Nissan Cultural and Sports Centre, in south China's Dongguan city, on Sunday.

The two teams had very different game styles. Canada were like an economical-version of the USA: their players relied on individual abilities in both offense and defense. Unfortunately, they did not share their American neighbors' athleticism and skills, which meant Canada did not have the most powerful weapon of the USA team – transition offense.

By contrast, Australian players were not only strong enough to make their Canadian opponents uncomfortable but also had good enough tactical minds to launch a complex offense based on fast and smooth passes. On the other side of the court, the Boomers had remarkable one-on-one defense while counting on giants like Aron Baynes and Andrew Bogut to protect the rebounds and the rim.

As a result, though Canada could score from time to time via 3-pointers, fast break, and mismatch attacks, they were never able to build a continuous scoring momentous. Australia, on the other hand, though not in full power, kept a solid defense and launched an excellent offense that deserved the word "dazzling." The boomers led in rebounds (20-11), free throws (10-4), field goal rate (59.38 percent-47.06 percent), and of course, score (52-40) in the first half.

Things took a sudden turn in the third quarter as Canada launched a 18-3 run in three minutes and 20 seconds to take the lead. Their secret was simple: in offense, Canadian players moved faster on the court, did more back-door cuts and focused the ball  onto Corey Joseph. In defense, Canada turned to 2/3 zone defense which caught Australia unprepared.

Nonetheless, Australia was the better team and had one advantage that Canada lacked: bench depth. Canada did not have enough good players to maintain their game intensity all the time so they had to keep their starters on the court longer than they were supposed to. As a result, the team first lost their fire power in the offense in the fourth quarter.

As for Australia, the team gradually adapted to the opponent's defense zone and responded by hitting Canada where it hurt the most, 3-pointers. The Boomers missed a lot of 3-pointers in the first three quarters but many of those were open shots, meaning that they would find their shooting back, and they did, right in Q4.

In the end, the last quarter witnessed the breakdown of Canada and a big win for Australia.

Other games on Sunday:

Brazil 102-94 New Zealand

Turkey 86-67 Japan

Dominican Republic 80-76 Jordan

Senegal 47-101 Lithuania

Greece 85-60 Montenegro

France 78-74 Germany