GB Basketball team preparing to face Team USA in Basketball Olympic Warm Up

The men's team recorded their first wins of the Olympic preparations with back-to-back victories over Portugal, while the women's team enjoyed a 74-67 success over world number eight France, capping a weekend that also saw them beat Angola and lose to Australia.

Now they head to Manchester, where the women will take on the Americans on Wednesday and the men on Thursday, with the world and Olympic champions posing the toughest test either team has faced to date.

The two teams are hoping to build some momentum approaching the London games after their impressive showing in Sheffield last week.

The matches should provide something of a preview for the Games, with big crowds expected to give the teams a taste of the atmosphere they will face in London, and the opponents to make clear the standards required to succeed at the highest level.

"It's very exciting for us," said GB men's player Pops Mensah-Bonsu.

"It should be real energetic, real crazy with an amazing atmosphere and it will be a great game for us to play in.

"It's definitely important to have that going into the Olympics because I'm hoping and guessing that's what the atmosphere will be like coming into London. It will be a good test for us and it will be interesting to see how we respond to that type of crowd."

The American team will feature some true giants of the world game. The peerless LeBron James, the older and increasingly selfish Kobe Bryant and this year's young sensation Kevin Durant who led the Oaklahoma City Thunder to the play-off finals.

Teams:

USA:

Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks), Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers), Tyson Chandler (New York Knicks), Anthony Davis (New Orleans Hornets), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder), James Harden (Oaklahoma City Thunder), Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers) LeBron James (Miami Heat), Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves), Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers), Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder), Deron Williams (Brooklyn Nets)

The British contingent are largely drawn from players in the European leagues with Deng's star wattage the main draw:

Team GB:

Kieron Achara, Robert Archibald, Eric Boateng, Dan Clark, Luol Deng, Joel Freeland, Kyle Johnson, Andrew Lawrence, Mike Lenzly, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Nate Reinking, Drew Sullivan