FIBA Worlds Daily Three: U.S. unleashes the fury

Chauncey = intensity. No, the two words don't have a perfectly matching number of letters, but Mr. Billups brought the intensity against Angola nevertheless. Averaging a modest 9.4 points per game coming in, he buried a three right off the opening tip en route to a team-high 19 points, 16 of them in the first half as the U.S. led 65-38 at the intermission. Billups also set a fierce defensive tone early, placing himself directly in Seinfeld-ian close-talking vicinity of Angola's guards, who likely found themselves inquiring about the possibility of taking out a five- to seven-foot restraining order on the American perimeter defenders.

Labor Day block party. Keeping with the theme of relentless early intensity, the U.S. made a point to protect the rim with the same determination shown by your Uncle Stan in fending off would-be cooks from the propane grill. Fueled in part by two first-quarter blocks from Derrick Rose (and another from Lamar Odom), the Americans opened up a 20-point lead (29-9) after less than eight minutes. Ballgame.

Prepare your talking points (and your rim-annihilating dunk attempts). If you're a TV announcer, a blowout U.S. win means making sure you have about eight index cards peppered with lengthy basketball anecdotes. And if you're Russell Westbrook, a blowout win means taking one glorious shot at a rather memorable dunk. The attempt (pictured above) was memorable for the wrong reasons - it was a brick of the most cacophonous variety - but it was highly entertaining nonetheless. Next up for the U.S.: a quarterfinal matchup against the winner of Russia and New Zealand on Thursday, preceded by approximately 72 hours of Westbrook having teammates remind him of how badly he bricked that dunk.