Team USA also had to overcome an injury to guard Allen Iverson, as he fractured his right thumb during their loss Sunday to Puerto Rico.  Despite the injury, Iverson had 17 points while fellow co-captain Tim Duncan added 14 points and nine rebounds before fouling out.

Lamar Odom overcame a stomach virus that kept him out of the morning shoot-around to contribute eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.  LeBron James provided a huge spark off the bench hitting 5-6 shots for 10 points in just 11 minutes of action.

"We played with a lot more energy tonight than we did against Puerto Rico and that was the difference," said USA and Detroit Pistons head coach Larry Brown.  "We defended, got loose balls, and then our bench, some of our young kids came through. LeBron gave us a big lift, Stoudemire gave us a lift, Carlos Boozer, especially with the foul trouble we were in.  It's pretty tough to play when you haven't played these rules and you're not use to the way the game's being called.  Timmy had some difficult calls against him, but we hung in."

Greece stayed with the Americans and hung in there being down only 18-17 after the first quarter.  James entered the game in the second period and provided a huge lift.  He scored eight points in a four minute span.  That enabled the U.S. to take a 31-19 lead with 4:21 to play in the half.

With James out of the lineup, Greece went to work behind their home crowd. They chipped away and found themselves down only 37-31 at the half.

The Greek team made a couple of runs in the third and fourth periods until Carlos Boozer put back an offensive rebound to make it 74-68 and help seal the victory.

Lamar Odom then made a key defensive play with around 20 seconds remaining in the game.  Greece's Dimitris Papanikolaou took it strong to the basket but Odom partially blocked his shot, which would have cut the U.S. lead to two points.

In James' limited minutes on the floor he showed determination and intensity in his play.  In the 11 minutes of playing time, James had three dunks, dove for a loose ball, made a key steal and propelled a U.S. 11-0 run.

The U.S. shot just 40 percent from the field (27-67), including 4-21 from 3-point territory.  They did hold Greece to 44 percent shooting and held a 42-28 rebounding edge.  The U.S. defense forced the Greeks into 22 turnovers while committing 19 themselves.

Greece's Antonis Fotsis had a game high 22 points and grabbed five rebounds.

"Believe it or not, I think we'll make an outside shot someday," said coach Brown.