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Wade’s game has some hop to it

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Times Staff Writer

MACAO -- After Dwyane Wade’s lost season, he had to audition for Jerry Colangelo, the managing director of the U.S. men’s basketball team, to show he was healthy enough to play.

In the Americans’ 114-82 win over Turkey on Thursday, Wade held another audition of sorts, for his teammates. He scored 13 points off the bench with several highlight plays, including one in which he knifed between two defenders and threw down a reverse dunk.

Welcome back, Wade’s hops.

“I don’t know where they came from,” said Wade, who battled left knee pain throughout the NBA regular season after summer surgery. “You know, it was game time, they just came out of nowhere.

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“I’ve been working real hard to get my explosiveness back and I think now I jump as high as I have in a long time.”

Said LeBron James: “That move that Dwyane did let me know and let the rest of our guys know that he’s back. . . .

“That move was what the old Dwyane Wade did before the injuries, so it let us know he’s back to great form and the NBA had better watch out.”

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The U.S., which got 17 points from Carmelo Anthony, moves up in class, playing Lithuania, one of the teams the Americans lost to in the Athens Games, here today.

The U.S. will then fly to the mainland, staying in Shanghai for five days with exhibitions against Russia and Australia, before arriving in Beijing on Aug. 6.

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mark.heisler@latimes.com

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