This is how it happens.
Team U.S.A. finishes the preliminary round by beating Germany 106-57. Then they take out Australia 116-85. Next, a bit of revenge against Argentina, 101-81. They Americans then find themselves posed to strike at the Gold. At redemption. No one told, Spain though. The first offensive set for the U.S. is stagnant, and Lebron predictably jacks up a 3 at the end of the 24-second clock. He makes, it though. So is that a good thing? Should I stop my complaining and just jump on the love train? At the other end, Gasol gets it deep in the paint and earns an and 1. The U.S. is losing. It sets the tone for most of the first quarter. Kobe and Lebron both pick up 2 quick fouls, and the U.S. is facing their biggest deficit of the Olympics. However, Wade and Paul retaliate with brutal drives to the basket to which the Spaniards have no defense, and suddenly that lead is gone. One thing is for sure: neither team is going anywhere.
A steal from CP3 and just a possession later a sick drive and a shot that has no business going in goes in–and one. Could this finally be Chris Paul’s coming out party? Calderon is already out for this game and Ricky Rubio has hyperextended his wrist. Their third string PG picked up his third foul late in the first quarter. They should give it to CP every time down the floor. Wade with a steal and reverse jam and the U.S. is up by four; he and CP are killing the Spaniards. It’s almost funny when the crowd gets upset at a string of fouls called on Spain; Lebron and Kobe have been sitting for five minutes each, and the fact of the matter is, the Spanairds just don’t know how to stop Wade or Paul, and, consequently, the two guards are racking up points at the line. Still, the U.S. gives up more points than they have in any quarter this Olympics, but they also score more than they have in any other quarter. All said, it’s 38-31 at the end of the 1st, and suddenly things seem okay.
The second quarter is chaos. Howard starts it off with an obvious flagrant foul, and Rubio starts taking over with Kidd back in the game. The Spanish zone defense is forcing penetrators to kick it out to 3s way too often, and the Gasol brothers are slowly grinding it down in the paint. It’s not long, though, before Coach K goes back to Paul and Wade. CP immediately throws it from half court to Kobe under the basket for an easy 2; I’m getting a warm feeling inside and I don’t think it’s the Abita I’ve been drinking all night. Less fouls are getting called now, and the play is getting chippy. You know, I’m really trying to keep an open mind about Lebron, I’m feeling I’ve been too negative about him this Olympics, but then he takes a pass from CP on the break, gets a 3-on-1, and takes it himself, only to makes it (though misses the free throw after the foul). It’s the wrong play. I don’t care if he put it in because he is a physical freak. It was the wrong play. If he ever learns to play well with others he’ll be the most unstoppable force in the league. (Not named Chris Paul, that is.) You know, one of our Achilles’ Heels in international play in the past several years has been 3-point shooting, but we started off 8-11 tonight. Not bad. Nonetheless, Spain holds serve and it’s 69-61 at half. Breen and Collins inform us this is the smallest lead we’ve gone into halftime with so far this Olympics.
This game is on pace to be the highest scoring game in Olympics history, so I’m holding my breath to see where this game goes next. The third quarter starts with a lot of no calls on both ends and I’m secretly wishing the NBA was called like that. With the physical strength of guys in the NBA today, it’s almost a joke to give these guys an and 1 on a touch foul. After a few minutes, it’s obvious that the starting line-up is struggling again; the lead is down to four, and I continue to be amazed by Coach K’s unwavering loyalty to these guys. Unless, I suppose, his actual strategy is depth, and he’s just thinking that bringing Bosh, Wade, and CP in on Spain’s back-ups is like a death sentence on the Europeans. Finally, at about the five minute mark, CP, Wade, and Bosh return; Kobe and Lebron stay in, though I’d just as soon see Boozer come in for James. No such luck, but Team U.S.A. is keeping their composure, using good ball movement to get it inside; the Spaniards are hacking us by strategy, but we’re making our free throws. CP to Wade on the break, a quick jumper, and just like that the lead is ten. I know I’m talking mostly about Americans here, but damn if some of these Spanish players aren’t playing the game of their life. Navarro has been unstoppable, and he ends the third with a drive on D-Will. Just beautiful.
I kind of forgot what it’s like to be tense about a basketball game, what with the steamroller effect we’ve seen from these guys thus far this Olympics. Apparently we’re 1-7 from three point range in the second half, and Spain goes on a 7-0 run to start the fourth. It’s a two point game. Can it really only be Hornets fans that are desperate to see CP13 back in the game? Wade penetrates and kicks it to Kobe who penetrates and makes a sick runner–I really stop to wonder if it’s even fair to post a team with both those guys. Let alone a team with 12 of them. But Spain’s proving it’s not all about the individual, because they’re hanging in there. HOLY CRAP! Rudy Fernandez, soon to be a Blazer, just did a monster dunk over Howard. How good is this guy? But honestly, with CP back in, could you ask for a better game manager? How many times last year did the Hornets lose a 4th quarter lead? Once? Twice? Still, only a five point game with three minutes left. Oof, I might have just heard a fat lady clearing her throat. Kobe just picked up a four point play after getting fouled by Fernandez on a 3, which, incidentally, fouled Fernandez out of the game. Okay, then Spain for three. Down to four. Two minutes left. CP to Wade. For three. Count it. The Americans are feeling it. We’re at the fouling point now. CP goes to the line and Doug Collins calls him “money” from the line. 7-7 tonight. Who’s to argue? Yeah. Spain is out of control now. After fouling Kobe, they pick up a technical, giving us another two. So make that four free throws and the ball. This one is in the books.
The team is going wild. And to their credit, they all run over to Doug Collins–who announcing now, was part of that disputed 1972 Olympics when we lost to the Soviets, and because of technical disputes, we to this day have not accepted those silver medals–and shake his hand. I can’t wait to see them all on the medal stand. But, seriously, with CP on board, was it ever in doubt? Let me answer that one for you. No. Congratulations Team U.S.A. Redemption achieved.
Nice to see I wasn’t the only one awake for that game. Should the hornets fans do a “USA” chant whenever a member of Team USA plays at the Hive (player introductions or the first time at the free throw line”? I say yes. CP should get one for the first game, which I won’t be at; it is up to the back row for that. Even the dreaded Kobe gets a USA chant.
Even Carmelo, whom I’ve been really brutal on, played like a champ today.
The Kobe/Pau embrace at the end of the game was the first time in a long time I’ve felt respect for number 8/24/whateverthehellnumberheisnow. Good sport. Totally agree with mW though – these guys far too often made the wrong basketball play. Lucky for them they’re stupidly skilled. Fernandez is ready for the NBA. Marc I’m not so sure about – great presence down low but a bit lumbering and a questionable handle. We’ll see how Memphis uses him.
And it was a pleasure watching CP consistently validate his place as the best PG in the world and one of the best 2 or 3 players (Lebron’s out for now).
I guess what counts is who was on the floor in that last five minutes. It was CP all the way.
That was, without a doubt, the greatest FIBA game I’ve ever seen. It was like a heavyweight boxing match, with a few knockdowns, that ended in a split decision. Spain took our best shots, and they just didn’t go down. They could have, and no one would have blamed them for it. The fact is, they didn’t back down. They just kept coming. That was a heroic performance by Navarro, Fernandez, and Pau Gasol. Ricky Rubio is going to be something special as well. I think I speak for everyone who saw the game in saying that the Americans may have won the Gold medal, but the Spanish team won our respect.
On another note….. how scary is it for teams in the Eastern Conference to see Dwayne Wade play the way he has this summer. He’s put everyone in the East on notice.
I would say that CP put folks on notice as well… but he didn’t need the Olymics to do that. He had the ’07-’08 NBA season. Nuff said.
U!S!A!
U!S!A!
U!S!A!
GO CP3!!! U MADE THE USA,LOUISIANA, AND NEW ORELANS PROUD!
I got nervous when Kobe decided to go into his “I’m going to win this game by myself” mode in the last 4 minutes or so… but he’s Kobe, and it worked. Also big props to CP with some nice assists and clutch free throws, and D-Will’s big time 3 pointer. And of course D-Wade was the man all the way through..
As for Lebron, I don’t know… I think the commentators have been giving him way too much credit. He played very well, but I think Dwayne Wade deserves most of the credit that Lebron has been getting.
It was great to see a competetive, down to the wire game between these two countries. Rudy Fernandez is a hell of a player….
I totally agree with Caleb. The Nike Sponsors, I mean announcers, wer gushing all over Lebron. And while he was a force on the floor, if you asked me who the MVP of this team was, I’d say Wade hands down. I’d been about to write that, well, if CP played thirty-some minutes, I think we would have seen something special, but, screw it. The fact is that Wade shined every minute he was on the floor. He didn’t need to get on rhythm. He just came in and dominated every second he was on the floor. Steals, rebounds, jump shots, dunks, he was unstoppable on one end and overbearing on the other. Tip of the hat to Mr. Wade.
And the Olympics MVP is Dwane Wade.
Actually the media would probably give the MVP to Jason Kidd. I think I heard the “J Kidd remains undefeated in international play” stat line about 764,000 times. It really got old after, I don’t know, the 1st time.
Personally I’d go with Wade as well, followed by CP13, then Chris Bosh.
Dwayne Wade was a Beast. J kidd was mean on defense, but he didnt really add to the fast break points like CP13 did. CP kept the momentem just by handling the ball well. Dwayne Wade made tenacious points in the paint, block shots made steals, and ally oops this was reminecent of the 06 Finals where he was unshakable.
I was on vacation a majority of the olympics and saw every pool play game. I really believe that team USA was playing on a substandard court, they had so many slips and falls i’m glad that nobody hurt themselves.
Okay, I don’t get it. We beat China by 30+ points. Spain had to go into overtime with China then we beat Spain by 30+ points. HOW was that we couldn’t win with more than an 11 point lead? Although, it was the best game out of all the olympics. I am just at a lost as to how good Spain competed there were seconds I felt we might loose to them.
@ Mikey – Good call on Bosh. He was an absolute rock down low on D and didn’t seem to need plays called for him on offence to make an impact. Way more impressed with him in this tourney than his NBA play, which at times seems erratic and too focused on the outside. Dude is a banger, and I’d love to see more of that in Toronto. Well done for anchoring the Redemption Mr Bosh.