Sunday, August 24, 2008

U.S. Redeem Team wins gold




The U.S. men's basketball game finally got itself in a battle Sunday in Beijing, in the gold-medal game vs. Spain.

After so many beastly 20-40 point wins, this one was a beauty. Spain ran with the U.S. and stuck right with Team USA for most of the game. When you watch the highlights, you are absolutely not going to believe the dunk that Spanish player Rudy Fernandez tomahawked in over Dwight Howard. That was the best dunk of the game, and it came from Spain!

But the USA ultimately prevailed, 118-107, to return the title of Olympic champion to America.

"We put American basketball back where it belongs, which is at the top," Carmelo Anthony said.

My MVP for the game for the U.S. would have to be Dwyane Wade. He had 27 and was good offensively all day. Kobe Bryant played a nice fourth quarter, too, especially once Spain had cut the lead to 91-89. Kobe made a key four-point play in the fourth quarter -- hitting a three and getting fouled -- and held up his finger in a "Shhhh" gesture.

That was about as rambunctious as the U.S. got. They did break protocol in the postgame news conference. Instead of sending just coach Mike Krzyzewski and one player, as was standard, LeBron James decided it would be a good idea if all 12 players attended. (See photos above: Coach K had LeBron on his right and Kobe on his left).

This made for a somewhat chaotic but rather enjoyable news conference, with Kobe and LeBron taking the lead and Krzyzewski calling the Olympic experience the greatest of his life.

No comments: