James scores 20 in debut, leads US over Turkey

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"I just used my reaction time," James said. "Even some of the guys on Turkey were calling for goaltending. But it's legal."

The next 15 minutes were a struggle, even against an opponent without NBA players Hedo Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur.

The Americans yielded an alarming number of open shots and offensive rebounds for most of the first half and committed 10 turnovers. Even beating the quicker U.S. team downcourt on a couple of occasions, Turkey used a 10-2 spurt to grab a 27-24 lead on Ender Arslan's 3-pointer with 1:42 remaining in the first quarter. The Americans were ahead just 31-30 after the period.

Turkey was still close late into the second before James seized control on both ends. He rebounded his own miss for a 10-point lead, came up with a steal and made a free throw, then leaped high for a one-handed dunk off an alley-oop pass from Bryant for a 50-37 lead. Another steal by James led to Howard's dunk and a 15-point cushion.

"We allowed them to get into a little comfort zone because we're trying to blow them out too fast," James said. "Once we realized we just need to win the game and our pressure will automatically put pressure on the other team, we did a great job in the second quarter of bumping the lead up."

James had 12 points in the half and added eight more and some of the game's highlight plays in the third. Following a basket by Turkey, he took the ball out and whipped a pass to the other end of the court to a streaking Wade for a dunk. A minute later, James had another steal and passed ahead to Bryant, who bounced it in front of the basket to Anthony for a dunk.

Wade and Chris Bosh each scored 13 points and Chris Paul added 12 points and six assists.

Cenk Akyol had 22 points for Turkey. Turkoglu, the Orlando forward voted the most improved player in the NBA last season, shot around before the game and was introduced with the rest of the team, but Tanjevic held him out because of a lingering hamstring injury.

Turkey didn't qualify for the Olympics but has an automatic berth into the 2010 world championships as the host country.