Yao Ming (21 points, 7 rebounds) and China fought hard but still came away with a 92-78 loss against World Champions Serbia and Montenegro as they squared off at the FIBA Diamond Tournament in Belgrade. Vladimir Radmanovic led the Serbians with 16 points and 7 rebounds.

In the first game of the day Manu Ginobili and Argentina squeaked by Angola 67-63 behind 14 points and 7 rebounds from Fabricio Oberto. Ginobili scored just 2 points (0/3 FG) and had 4 fouls in 20 minutes of play.

Co-captain of the US Olympic team Allen Iverson accepted his suspension and offered no excuses for his behavior.

"Any excuse that I give is not a good-enough excuse," Iverson conceded. "Because I was late, simple as that.

"If you're late, you gotta pay the consequences, and that's what happened with me."

"Today was a bad day," Iverson said. "I just want to put it behind me."

Lebron James also sounded apologetic:

"I let the team down by being late, but I'll make up for it," said James.

"It ain't the end of the world."

When the Indiana Pacers officially sign Kevin O'Neill to a three year contract Monday to serve as an assistant coach, it will mark the end of Ron Rothstein's one year trial on Rick Carlisle's bench.

The former Piston head coach, brought in by former Pacers head coach Isiah Thomas, will not have his contract renewed to make room on the staff for O'Neill, the recently fired Toronto Raptors head coach and one-time lead assistant to Carlisle with the Pistons.

"When Rick retained me on the staff last year, he made it clear that it would be a one-year situation with no guarantees for the future," Rothstein said. "Unfortunately we were unable to make it work this year."

RealGM.com's Tommie De Riemaecker first revealed that O'Neill would join the Pacers staff three weeks ago but it wasn't clear until recently that Rothstein would be job-hunting.

Tall Black forward Sean Marks has secured his place in the NBA for another year, signing a $1.2 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs for 2004/05.

Marks (28), the first Kiwi to play in the world's premier league after being drafted from the University of California-Berkeley in 1998, spent most of last season behind the Spurs bench on the team's injured reserve.

Nevertheless, he enjoyed the experience with the 2002/03 champions, practicing against international megastars like Tim Duncan (US), Emmanuel Ginobili (Argentina), Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey) and Tony Parker (France).

And club management obviously liked the energy he brought to the practice floor.

The US national team overcame the suspensions of three of their key players, including co-captain Allen Iverson to beat Puerto Rico in a friendly exhibition game in Jacksonville, Florida 96-71.

The US rushed off to a big lead right off the bat and led by as many as 17 points in the first quarter. Puerto Rico stormed back with some tight man to man and zone defense and by hitting timely 3 point shots to bring the game back within 9 at the half.

The first half was mostly about feeding the ball inside to Tim Duncan who either finished the play himself or found the open man after being double teamed. Dwyane Wade and Stephon Marbury did a good job of moving the ball around unselfishly and both finished the half with 5 assists in what was an excellent test by the Puerto Ricans who put up a very nice fight for most of the half.

In the 2nd half the US started to pull away quickly after  using a full court press to force turnovers and convert easy baskets in transition. The Puerto Ricans shots stopped falling and Carlos Arroyo had a very difficult time controlling the tempo of the game. The US went with their best athletes for most of the way and constantly pushed the ball up the floor and finished effortlessly around the basket due to their superior athleticism.

Larry Ayuso was Puerto Rico's best player and he almost singlehandedly kept them in the game with his five 3 pointers until they fell apart midway through the third quarter. Ayuso was called for his fourth foul a little later and at that point the game was essentially over.    

Dwyane Wade was the best player on the floor today, finishing the game with 7 points and 8 assists, many of them to Duncan who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, mostly in the first half when the game was still close. Lamar Odom also had a good outing, playing excellent defense, moving the ball around, posting up his man and doing many of the little things needed on the floor.

The US had trouble with Puerto Rico's zone defense, especially when they were forced to play a half court game. Wade's emergence helped open things up on the floor as he penetrated to the basket at will and found his teamamtes time after time for easy buckets. The US will also need to work on their perimeter defense which looked very shaky at times, forcing Duncan to leave his man a number of times to rotate over for the stop.

The US will now board a flight to Cologne, Germany to continue their exhibition schdule against Italy on August 3rd in a game that will be televised on ESPN at 2 PM EST.

Allen Iverson, LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire of the U.S. Olympic team were suspended from Saturday's exhibition game against Puerto Rico this afternoon for missing an 11 o'clock team meeting.

Larry Brown made the decision on the suspensions and the decision was announced to the crowd in Jacksonville before the game to a rain of boos.

Jason Kidd met with the Nets' hierarchy at the team's practice facility yesterday and voiced his concern about the state of the team and its future direction.

According to an Eastern Conference official, Kidd did not demand a trade.  However, he did not back off from the idea that he may be better off going to a team that has a legitimate chance to win a title.  

Led by incoming owner Bruce C. Ratner, the Nets attempted to smooth the quasi-crisis with Kidd by pointing to next summer, when the team will have several draft picks and be under the salary cap by enough to go after a star player.  The Nets may then still be in the market to fill the void left when Kenyon Martin was signed and traded to Denver.

According to a Nets official, after Kenyon Martin was dealt, Kidd asked the team to trade him.

"If Jason has any demands, I'm sure he will make them public," said Nets CEO Rod Thorn.

Kidd could be dealt to Dallas.  The Mavericks are offering Antoine Walker, whose contract expires at the end of next season, in return.  

Kidd has a surgically repaired knee and 5 years remaining on his maximum contract.

The US national team continued their preperations for the Olympic games in Athens with a convincing win over New Zealand 94-68 in Jacksonville today.

Tim Duncan led the US once again with 16 points followed by Dwyane Wade and Amare Stoudemire who scored 14 points each.

For New Zealand, Phil Jones (7/14 shooting, 5 rebounds) and Kirk Penney both led the way with 14 points each. Tall Blacks Center Sean Marks participated for the first time in scrimmage after coming to terms with the San Antonio Spurs on a new contract earlier.

After the game Larry Brown had nothing but good things to say about New Zealand:

"Everything about New Zealand basketball impresses me," he said. "They're as well coached as any team in the world and as fundamentally sound as any team I have seen.

"They enjoy playing and are a team. Obviously, they shoot the ball well & everyone knows that.

"Athletically, they are behind because they just don't have the depth in numbers we have, but they play the right way, which we talk about all the time."

New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin feels that the US aren't overwhelming favorites for the gold just yet.

"They have a long way to go," he said. "They're not executing that great and made more mistakes than they would have wanted."

The US will play Puerto Rico tommorow in a more "official" friendly game that will be televised on ESPN at 1 PM EST. Check the Athens Olympic board on RealGM for an official game thread.

The Portland Trail Blazers announced that rookie forward Viktor Khryapa is out for the 2004-05 season after suffering an injury at the Rocky Mountain Revue earlier this month.

The 22-year-old underwent successful foot surgery on Wednesday to repair the injured Lisfranc complex in his left mid-foot. The injury was sustained in a summer league game on July 16th went an opponent stepped on Khryapa?s foot.

"It is with great disappointment that we learn that Viktor will miss the season,? said Trail Blazers General Manager John Nash. ?He is a player that we were anxious to have play for us because of his versatility and comprehensive understanding of the game. In a freakish play in the Rocky Mountain Revue, he sustained an injury that will require a year of healing and rehab following his recent surgery. We look forward to his full recovery and his return to the floor next summer."

Steve Nash says he signed a free-agent contract with the Phoenix Suns because they wanted him more than Dallas.

?For the whole time I just thought I was coming back to Dallas,? said Nash.

?To come back and within 24 hours to be going to Phoenix was a bit of a shock. It was bittersweet.?

?I thought they'd come a lot closer than they did?

?To me it was like they never really had any aspirations of keeping me.?