BEIJING — Between Yao Ming’s return and President Bush’s arrival, this might be the only Olympic basketball game in which the guys wearing red, white and blue have to cede the spotlight.

The United States begins the tournament Sunday night against host China, a game that figures to have a lopsided result but should feature an atmosphere that rivals a Super Bowl or any other championship match.

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are the headline names on the gold medal favorites, but the star power this time goes well beyond them. Yao is back from a foot injury to play before his frenzied home fans, who will be joined by Bush, as he becomes the first U.S. president to attend an Olympic Games on foreign soil.

“I think that is going to be one of the most-watched games in sports history,” U.S. forward Carmelo Anthony said. “It’s going to be exciting.”

USA basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said the Americans have been told more than a billion viewers are expected, potentially making it the largest audience ever for a sporting event.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski has won three NCAA championships, led teams to 10 Final Fours and was an assistant on the Dream Team in the 1992 Olympics, but knows he’s about to take part in something he’s never experienced before.

“How cool, how good is it that we’re going to play in a game that might be the most-viewed game in the history of sport? Come on,” Krzyzewski said. “I remember growing up, inner city of Chicago, shooting at a basket in a schoolyard hoping that one person would watch me. And now I’m going to have a chance to coach my country’s team in front of a billion people? Are you kidding?”

It probably won’t be close. A sampling of recent U.S.-China games includes scores such as 121-90 in the 2006 world championships, and 119-72 in the 2000 Olympics.

This time the Chinese are home, and after some early anxiety they’ve got Yao, the Houston Rockets center who is China’s greatest athletic superstar. So don’t tell anybody here it’ll be a blowout, least of all the American players who are bracing for a fired-up opponent.

Asked about the challenge of facing China in its home country, Bryant said, “The energy. The one thing about these games is that they are shorter games than NBA games. Teams can get hot and stay hot and all of a sudden you find yourselves in a dogfight. I think that’s a danger you face.”

The U.S. playing China in Beijing is like a No. 1 vs. No. 16 game in the NCAA tournament with the underdogs playing in their arena with thousands of their fans cheering them on.

This is likely the lone game in which the Americans aren’t the crowd favorites. Most of them are wildly popular in China, where the NBA estimates 300 million people play basketball, and the U.S. team enjoyed great support in exhibition games in Macau in Shanghai.

Center Dwight Howard, one of the best-known players after his Orlando Magic played exhibition games in China last fall, now becomes the villain for a night as the guy responsible for covering Yao.

“I love the Chinese people and I love the fans here, so hopefully they won’t hate us too long,” Howard said.