The opening round is finished and the United States find themselves in first place as expected. The win over France 106-94 ensured their position to set up the quarterfinals and medal rounds. France, however, was able to lead the U.S. at the 10-minute mark, ensuring that all five opponents have had a lead in the first half with Lithuania having a lead in the second half; something that no one has done against an American team of NBA players in the past.

France made 59 percent of their two-point attempts, which demonstrates the inability of the U.S. team to shut down opponents on the defensive end of the court. After being down early in the first half, the U.S. team jumped to a 20-point lead with five minutes gone in the second half, only to play the next 15 minutes dropping eight points of their lead.

So rather than building momentum, the team was content with just swapping baskets against the French team made up of far inferior players -- a real dilemma for those of us who watch this team perform. The full-court pressure defense and offensive stats don't lie: 22 assists and 20 turnovers. How is this possible?

Steve Smith has trouble with the French defense.(AP)

Alonzo Mourning was obviously missing for the second straight game. But on a positive note, Antonio McDyess (playing 24 minutes) was eight of 12 on the floor with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Garnett (in 25 minutes) played extremely well with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. In my opinion, McDyess has played closest to his potential in the five games than any of the other U.S. players.

Mourning will be back for the medal-round games but it would be hard to expect him to be in top-flight shape after an 18,000-mile roundtrip and the emotion involving the birth of his second child.

The American team definitely needs an attitude adjustment.

Tim Hardaway, Vince Carter, Ray Allen and Steve Smith got involved in altercations with their opponents. If you were scouting this team, it would certainly be something that you would try to take advantage of in the medal rounds. Ray Allen was 0 for 2 with just 2 points. Gary Payton scored 4 points and turned the ball over 5 times. This is something that cannot continue if the U.S. team is to come close to its potential here in Sydney.

The most pleasant surprise of the evening took place in the B group. Canada had a stirring 83-75 victory over Yugoslavia in the day's best game. Without question, if a most valuable player were selected in the Olympics it would be Steve Nash of the Canadian team.

An NBA backup point guard, Nash was once again outstanding with 26 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in 36 minutes of playing time.

So that sets things up for team USA to face Russia in the quarterfinal round. Canada is also set as the No. 1 team in group B and will face France. Australia battled back from an 0-2 start to set up their meeting with Italy, and two European foes, Yugoslavia and Lithuania, will meet in the other quarterfinal game.

My observations after five games for the United States team:

First, please drop the name 'Dream Team.' This team so far has been closer to a sleeping team. The press defense has been totally non-pressure and will probably be dropped for the medal rounds. The team switches on and off like a light bulb in regard to intensity and when the switch is on they are totally dominant and when the switch goes off they trade baskets.

So far there has been no apparent tension in regard to the possibility of losing, but if the attitude doesn't change in the medal rounds, expect to see some tension evolving because the confidence of the remaining teams has never been higher with the possibility of beating team USA.

The crowd will be cheering for an upset and as we saw for the first time yesterday, so may the referees.

The next two days of competition should prove to be very interesting. Going into these games, I expected this United States team to be totally dominant. I was very wrong. I would hope that I would be proved wrong again in the statement that this team cannot turn on the light switch only when they feel it.

Their performance in the past five games has eliminated any opportunity to compare them to the Dream Teams of the past. Now their task it to make sure they return with the gold and restore some credibility.