Last night I had the pleasure of staying up until 5 AM watching Team USA fend off the Spaniards right down to the wire for the gold medal. Having trampled the Spanish team with a 30+ point margin of victory when they met on the 15th, I naively assumed the Americans could just mail it in and win. Granted, I wouldn't have called it clean game by any stretch. The Spaniards fooled the officials with egregious flops throughout and were given free passes on several blatant travels. Priorities were placed squarely on offense, both teams ranged from mediocre to terrible on defense.
What caught me off guard was seeing guys like Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez cruising past NBA superstars for easy buckets. We all have our fantasy trade scenarios of seeing LeBron, Kobe, Kevin Garnett, and Dwight Howard on the same squad but watching the game last night put into perspective how stacking a team with immense talent doesn't equal easy success. I suppose you could also chalk up some of the deficiencies to Coach K's overly aggressive pressure defense method and the fact that the US team had to play small ball against the much taller Spanish team. I also don't particularly care for the distilled FIBA ruleset that overlooks key violations and rim interference.
All things considered, the offensive spectacle was visceral. Laser threes by Kobe and Wade, sharp cuts to the hoop by Lebron, and the occasional monster dunk provided by D12. In spite of the aforementioned, Team USA could never pull away for good as the Spaniards kept bringing themselves back into the contest. Their strength on the offensive boards truly brought pain upon the Americans, bringing their lead to just a few points as the fourth quarter began to wind down. With only a little over a minute left in the game, Kobe silenced all of Spain as he drew a 4-point play with a clutch three that benched Rudy Fernandez for the remainder of the game. The Spaniards lost their composure following that gaffe and earned a technical foul, by then it was essentially over as Springsteen's "Born In The USA" started playing over the arena PA while the American bench celebrated. Redeem team indeed, well done Team USA.
P.S. Carmelo Anthony still sucks.
