U.S. Men's Team beats Spain to Win Olympic Gold in Basketball

The whole U.S. squad joined the post-game press conference for the celebration of their come-back to the top of the world after they beat Spain 118-107 in the final of the Olympic men's basketball tournament here on Sunday.




A talented Spain team was as close as two points early in the fourth quarter and still within five in the last three minutes of the game and never completely went away in the US's 118-107 victory.

"This team has come a long way, and we had a lot of blowouts those first few games," point guard Chris Paul said. "So it was fitting that this one would be a close one. It really tested us to see what we were all about, and in the end, we showed we're the best in the world."

Kobe Bryant waved to the roaring crowd at Wukesong Arena, pounding his hand over his heart and beaming a smile as wide as all of China. Every few seconds, he looked down at his chest and seemed to rediscover the Olympic gold medal resting against his Team USA warmup jacket. He kissed the precious disc again and again, a kid who just received the toy he always wanted but never thought he'd get.

"Everybody wants to talk about NBA players being selfish and arrogant and individuals," Bryant said. "But what you saw today was a team bonding and facing adversity and coming out with a big win."

United States Defeated Argentina 101-81 to Reach Finals

The United States beat defending champions Argentina 101-81 on Friday night to earn a ticket to the gold medal game at the Olympics. The Americans, who won the title in 2000 but lost in the semi-finals to Argentina four years ago, got a team-high 21 points from Carmelo Anthony.

The USA stormed out to a 21-point lead and Argentina then lost superstar guard Manu Ginobili to a foot injury. Remarkably, Sergio Hernandez’s team fought back with inspirational leadership from Andres Nocioni and closed the gap to six but got no closer.

“We lost the chance to go for the gold medal game but today I believe we won the gold medal for the heart, the courage and the guts we put out there,” said Carlos Delfino.

“We lost our top scorer, Manu Ginobili. We were down 21 points against a team made up of superstars. We fought back and we gave everything we had on the court. In the end, the lack of oxygen and the fatigue caught up with us.”

Bothered by a knee injury that he suffered in the quarter-final win over Greece, Nocioni didn’t start but came off the bench to score eight points in the first half and also play his customary tough defense.

When asked if he had been fouled at the end of the half, Anthony said: “They called it. But it was a big play. We could not execute our plan in the first quarter and that left us with a huge deficit,” said Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez.

“If already it is difficult to play against a Team USA that has technique, incredible athleticism and unlike any other Team USA in the past – discipline - you can imagine if we are down 19 points. We paid the price in the final quarter because the efforts to get back in the game required a lot of energy. The zone defense worked at times, we tried everything. What I am left with is the character of my players, who play to the last minute and I am very proud.”


“Their zone gave us problems because we weren’t playing good defense. I think our defense leads to good offense, not just in turnovers but in us getting into an attack mode. I felt we didn’t attack the zone and we weren’t attacking defensively, either,” Krzyzewski said.

If the Americans play good defense, Krzyzewski says, they will be tough to beat in the final. The real heart of our team is playing defense, that’s why we’re in the gold medal game.” he said.

Now the Americans will face Spain for the gold medal on Sunday, a team they throttled, 119-82, in the preliminary round. Spain got to the gold medal game earlier Friday by rallying past Lithuania, 91-86.

Olympic Men's Basketball - USA Defeated Australia 116 - 85 to Reach Semis

The Redeem Team is looking more every day like the original Dream Team, and now the Americans are two victories away from winning the gold medal. On Wednesday night, the USA men's basketball team defeated Australia 116-85 to reach semifinal of the Olympics.

Kobe Bryant had 25 points to lead the USA, who grabbed 57 boards to just 28 for the Boomers. The Americans will now meet defending Olympic champions Argentina (who clawed their way past Greece 80-78 in the last game of the night)in the last four, and Bryant didn’t hesitate to say who he wanted to face.

"Well, we want to play the best, Bryant said before that game. We want to play the defending champs. I mean, it's all about challenge. ... You want to be able to play the guys who won it the last time." he said.

The Americans struggled shooting the ball in the first half but scored nine second-chance points after hauling in 13 offensive rebounds to just two for the men from Down Under.

USA defeated Spain 93-55 at Olympic Women's Basketball

The United States squandered a 15-point first quarter lead but much improved in the second half to beat Spain 93-55 for their fourth streak win in the Beijing Olympic women's basketball tournament on Friday.

Spain played as if an upset might be on the cards in the second quarter but in the end, they were just upset after a to three-time defending Olympic champions the United States.

Tina Thompson scored nine of her 17 points during the decisive third quarter run and Lisa Leslie added 14 points and 11 rebounds to help the U.S. top Spain.

The Americans also secured their top position in Group B after the victory and will meet New Zealand (1-3) in their final preliminary round game on Sunday.

Lisa Leslie Aiming Fourth Straight Olympic Gold Medal with USA Basketball Team

Lisa Leslie is homing in on a fourth straight Olympic gold medal with Team USA, and she’s entered the record books along the way. Leslie set a new women’s team mark in Wednesday’s 97-41 win over Mali by making all seven of her shots from the floor in her points haul of 16.

Current USA teammate Katie Smith had shot six of six from the field at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, something that former teammate Nikki McCray did as well at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

"Records are made to be broken," Leslie said. "It was good. We just wanted to get the win.”

Most people are predicting that world champions Australia will meet the United States in the gold medal game, but USA coach Anne Donovan refuses to look that far ahead. “We are not thinking about Australia and that’s an honest answer,” Donovan said.

“We’ve not been here together long enough to think ahead. That’s the best part of this team and they’ve really stayed in the moment, everyday whether it’s practice or a game, we’re focused on getting better so it when it comes to the gold medal game, comes to the quarter-finals, comes to the semi-finals, we’re getting better and we are today.”

Russia upset the United States in the semi-finals of the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Brazil. “There is no script that says Australia and the United States will be in that gold medal game,” Donovan said. “There is a lot of work to do for us and we’re not looking ahead.”

USA Basketball Team Secures Olympic Quarterfinal Berth

The U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team (3-0) passed with flying colors and soaring dunks to top Greece (1-2) 92-69 Thursday night at Wukesong Arena in Beijing, China. This is consider to be the first real test of the team at 2008 Olympics. Having earned three wins in as many outings in preliminary group play, the USA also secured its berth into the Olympic medal round quarterfinals, regardless of the outcome of its preliminary round games against Spain (3-0) on Saturday and Germany (1-2) on Monday.

Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) and Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors) led the way with 18 points each; followed by 17 points, six steals and five assists from Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat); and 13 points, six rebounds and six assists from LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers).

USA and Duke University head coach Mike Krzyzewski said "Greece plays basketball the right way. They play hard, they play together and they're a difficult team to beat, and they were tonight. They missed some shots but we played very good defense and they played good defense. So, it was tough to get shots. We're proud of our effort. I thought we played one of the best teams in the tournament tonight."

"We knew if we got into them early, picked them up full court, we would kind of wear them down," said Chris Bosh. "In 2006 we just let them run their stuff, so we wanted to extend our defense and make them run their offense about 30 or 35 feet away from the basket."

"This was a big game for us. We had this game circled for a long time once we found out what the groups were," said Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets), who played over 25 minutes of hawking defense while recording four points, three assists and two steals. "Greece is a very good team; they beat us in '06. There were a few of us on this team that felt like we needed this game to prove to ourselves that we mean business and we're ready to win this gold medal."

"Chris Bosh was terrific," Kobe Bryant said. "He always seems to find himself in the right place at the right time and when we penetrate he's able to find a little crack or seam and be able to finish. And defensively he did a great job on the pick and roll and stopping their guards from penetrating. He was getting steals and we converted them into easy points. He did a fantastic job."

The men's Olympic quarterfinals action takes place Aug. 20, semifinals play is slated for Aug. 22 and the Olympic men's gold and bronze medal games will be held Aug. 24.