Aug 22, 2014; New York, NY, USA; United States guard James Harden (13) dunks against Puerto Rico during the fourth quarter of a game at Madison Square Garden.
Aug 22, 2014; New York, NY, USA; United States guard James Harden (13) dunks against Puerto Rico during the fourth quarter of a game at Madison Square Garden. REUTERS

Tournament favorites United States cruised against wild card qualifier Finland in opening day of the FIBA World Cup of Basketball. Day Two proves to be a tougher test as they face Turkey, a seasoned squad that is also hoping to go 2-0 in the early stages of the competitions.

Turkey eked out a 76-73 win over New Zealand behind the valiant efforts of Emir Preldzic. The 6-foot-eight forward tallied an impressive statistical line of 14 points, six rebounds, and three assists including two three point makes for the Turkish squad. His teammate, New Orleans Pelicans Omer Asik surprisingly played sparingly and was used for only 10 minutes which fuels speculations that he might be nursing an injury.

Asik should be one of the vital cogs in tonight's game as he will be counted on to stop an imposing USA frontline which includes Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond and Kenneth Faried. Finland hang tough with the Americans in the opening minutes of Day 1's game but Klay Thompson and the rest of the squad opened up the close match by forcing turnovers and converting long bombs.

Backed by a standing only audience, Finland was still overwhelmingly beat by the defending champions, 114-55. Thompson paced the squad with 18 markers while positive signs continued for Derrick Rose as he was displaying his explosive old self as typified by an end to end fastbreak that ended in a vicious dunk.

Look for Team USA to replicate their dominating second quarter performance against Finland when they limited their opponents to just two points all coming from the free throw line. The more amazing statistic is that Finland went 0 for 17 from the field.

Turkey is a tougher out but expect Team USA to again take this by a considerable margin.

Projected Starting Lineups:

USA (1-0):

Stephen Curry (Guard)

James Harden (Guard)

Rudy Gay (Forward)

Kenneth Faried (Forward)

Anthony Davis (Center)

Turkey (1-0):

Ender Arslan (Guard)

Sinan Guler (Guard)

Emir Preldzic (Forward)

Baris Hersek (Forward)

Omer Asik (Center)

Watch the highlights of the USA's win over Finland during yesterday's Day 1 action:

(Video Courtesy of: Youtube/NBA Daily)

Watch the highlights of Turkey close shave with New Zealand yesterday:

(Video Courtesy of: Youtube/FIBA)

You can watch the live streaming match of USA and Turkey via ESPN.