Team USA beat Puerto Rico 111-100 in its opening game of the Worlds earlier this morning in Japan. Carmelo Anthony led the team with 21 points, and Kirk Hinrich (!) and LeBron James chipped in 15 apiece. The line of the night goes to Chris Paul, though, with 11 points, 9 assists, and 5 steals. Nice game, rookie.

While there was no shock for Team USA, the Serbian team got a wake-up call as Nigeria beat them 82-75 in the tourney's first real upset.

Argentina held off ailing France, and Lebanon stirred things up in Group A by beating Venezuela. (Want to here something strange? The entire Lebanese team managed to escape fighting a few weeks ago in their home country by driving out through Syria on a bus and out to relatively peaceful Jordan. They made it to the worlds on time and well-practiced. Except their center. He's stranded. Not in the Middle East, though. In Idaho. On a visa problem. Yeah.)

Brazil also lost, to Australia. More games still happening today, and another full slate tomorrow, including USA-China.