LOS ANGELES– Team USA arranged a five-game pre-Olympic exhibition tour against international competition just so coach Mike Krzyzewski could build chemistry and get his 12 man roster into game shape.

After two games, the Americans have hardly broken a sweat.

Team USA smothered Argentina, 111-74, three nights ago before a sellout crowd of 17,000 at the T-Mobile Center in Vegas, dominating that South America country. 53-30, on the glass. Last night, they buried China — a team with four seven-footers but limited point guard play– 106-57 before a sellout crowd of 19,060 the Staples Center here, outscoring the Chinese, 52-14, in the paint. “We should have won, but the way we won was excellent,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re really growing together as a group.”

Team USA plays China in a rematch Tuesday night at Oakland’s Oracle Arena. It will be the first appearance for 2014 MVP Kevin Durant in his new digs since he signed a two year $54 million free agent contract with the Warriors. Tickets are on sale now at StubHub, costing $3,000 for the best courtside VIP seats. The cheapest sells for a little less than $100 for the standing-room-only upper decks. Rabid fans in Silicon Valley and a large Chinese population in nearby San Francisco should gobble them up, even It means speaking another mismatch.

This group has been a fabulous group to coach,” Krzyzewski said. “None of the teams we’ve coached have worked harder defensively than this team. I’m not saying we didn’t play hard, but this team is really playing hard. It’s fun to watch.”

Krzyzewski said he wants his players to be able to play with everyone, so he switched up the starting lineup Sunday from the USA’s first exhibition game. Center DeAndre Jordan set the tone defensively, earning a start in front of his home fans and blocking China’s first shot of the game, then finishing an alley-oop from Kyle Lowry on the other end.

“He (Krzyzewski) said he was going to give me 30 seconds to do something if he was going to pull me,” Jordan said, smiling. “We’ve only been together for a week and it seems like we’ve been teammates for years.”

The U.S. took a while to get its offense in gear, but it never trailed, relying on their defense to limit China to just 13 points in the first quarter and nine in the third.The United States also limited China to 30 percent shooting, outscoring them 52-14, in the paint while converting 26 turnovers into 36 points. Neither Argentina nor China could figure out Team USA’s defense.

“I think defensively, we really showed what we’re capable of,” forward Paul George said. “We’re so talented. We’ve got so much depth. We can throw anybody in the lineup and we’re going to carry out the job. It’s a luxury that we can play around and have these exhibition games to figure out what works and what doesn’t.’

I don’t know if Team USA is the best shooting team in the Olympics. I suspect not after watching them shoot 14 for 41 the three against Argentina. But they have the ability to solve that potential problem. The two leading scorers for Team USA against China were new Golden State Warriors teammates Thompson and Durant. KD was the leading scorer for the second straight exhibition, after pacing the U.S. with 23 points in almost 21 minutes on Friday against Argentina. He wasn’t quite as lethal against China, but still managed to lead the way with 19 points in just 18 minutes.

Thompson was right behind him in scoring with 17 points and both players hit four three- pointers on the night. Durant was 5-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from downtown while Thompson was 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-8 from deep. Stephen Curry opted out of the Olympics this year, so Durant has become the third Splash Brother filling in for his new teammate. It almost seems unfair to pair the two against international competition, but that’s for the rest of the world to figure out.

The U.S. has turned its first two exhibitions into routes quickly. Maybe the competition will become more difficult in Rio when Team USA has to deal with smart European contenders France, Australia and Serbia in pool play and Spain and Lithuania in the knockout rounds. All those countries have shown the ability to employ efficient zone defenses that could challenge Team USA if it can’t make shots.

But it’s hard to imagine any team in this Olympic tournament can match the Americans’ talent 1 through 12 even without LeBron James and Curry. No one has their physical size or athleticism, which speaks to the depth of USA Basketball’s talent pool. Last week, I said I felt the United States had three of the best five players in the tournament– Durant, point guard Kyrie Irving and guard Klay Thompson. Now, the number might be closer to seven out of 10– with massive low post centers DeMarcus Cousins and Jordan, the versatile George and experienced Carmelo Anthony.

A big part of Team USA’s success so far has been the center position, which was an after thought on recent USA Olympic teams. Krzyzewski won two gold medals playing small ball with three forwards– Durant, James and Anthony– getting most of the playing time up front. But this team can go big now that Krzyzewski has discovered two new powerful weapons he has never had before in the 6-11, 275-pound Cousins and 6-11, 265-pound Jordan, who are both inside scorers and rim protectors who can control the game in the paint who can keep possessions alive with their offensive rebounding skills.
Cousins, who got a taste of international competition as a backup to Anthony Davis at the 2014 World Cup of Basketball in Spain, powered his way to 14 points and a game high 15 rebounds against Argentina, then came back with 12 points and seven rebounds against China.

“He’s going to be a force in Rio,” Thompson projected.

Cousins has the potential to be the best center in the tournament, ahead of aging Pau Gasol of Spain. “DeMarcus is a different player,” Anthony said. “He’s a big who can shoot, he’s a big who can post, he’s tough, he’s a hell of a rebounder. But the most exciting thing I like about having DeMarcus out here now is he gets a chance to see how everybody else is working. Work ethic. To see him jumping into lines, to see him asking can somebody work with him, staying after, coming in before, that work ethic is something that it spills over to everybody else. When you see your peers working that hard, it makes you want to be a part of that.”

Cousins had to share the spotlight at his position with Jordan, the Clippers’ star who was voted first team All NBA. Jordan who scored 12 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and scored off four spectacular alley oop dunks in his homecoming, which more than made up his air ball from the free throw lane late in the game that had the bench howling.

This should be a fun ride for Team USA. We can’t speak for the rest of the competition.