U.S. wins gold in London

[jw7]

No thread on this?

Anyone else watch it? Spain is a VERY good team and it took super effort for the win.

The international refs were brutal. Look at the ball wrong and you get called for the foul. Pretty much everyone was in foul trouble.

I don't think the U.S. is a gimme anymore in international competition. Rest of the world is catching up.

Gasol bros are super good.

 

[Michael]

It was a great final and Spain may have gotten the better if it wasn't for Marc Gasol's very early foul trouble and Kevin Durant.
Pau Gasol was incredible and just abused whomever the USA put on him (including defensive player of the year, Tyson Chandler), and I was impressed by Rudy Fernandez' and Kevin Love's play, as well.
On the US side, LeBron played well throughout the tournament as a distributor while the shooter combo of Durant/ Anthony was too much for the other teams. Bryant seemed completely out of place and broke the offensive rhythm with his forced one-on-one isolations. He had one good streak in the semi and tried to establish himself as closer in the final - but it just didn't work.

Congrats to the USA! Some amazing performances, and that game against Nigeria was well worth getting up early for! I suppose the team would have been better suited against Spain with Dwight Howard. But I am certainly glad that nobody (including Kobe & LeBron) will compare the 2012 US team with the Dream Team, anymore.

 

[D-Dogg]

Kobe seemed nothing of the sort Michael, but that's a Suns fan take, for ya. "The offensive rhythm" heh. Yes, great rhythm...set up, move perimeter and jack threes.

Pau beasted in the 3rd quarter like crazy, and really exposed the USA team's lack of size.

LeBron earned my respect with his poise in the Olympics. Still think he's a massive douche, but he was a different guy from 2008. His three late was a dagger, and something that he wouldn't have even thought about taking in 2008. CP3 was nails down the stretch as well. Kobe locked up Navarro in the second half after giving him too much room in the switches in the first half, only letting him get 2 points in the second which was huge. LeBron had a great dunk off the lob from Paul and Kobe to LeBron on a sick pass from the three point line set the tone of the 4th quarter.

Great win. Great job Coach K and Jerry C.

 

[D-Dogg]

Spain plays huge in big games. HUGE. They are fearless and very fun to watch. I wish Rubio was playing (but that would have only made this a tougher win).

 

[95pro]

dont forget kobe's sick turnover when he tried to go 1 on 4, he got caught in mid air and threw the ball right to spain.

luckily that "douche" lebron picked up his slack and closed it out with some big plays.

 

[D-Dogg]

dont forget kobe's sick turnover when he tried to go 1 on 4, he got caught in mid air and threw the ball right to spain.

luckily that "douche" lebron picked up his slack and closed it out with some big plays.

Yes, he made a bad decision and actually had a good shot and shouldn't have passed. Nor should Melo have passed to the crowd right afterwards.

BTW, was LeBron's airball three after his clutch shot earlier one of those close-out big plays you are talking about? Note that I didn't call that out earlier because I was focusing on the good things...and I'm a certified Bron hater. But if you are going to bitch about Kobe's bad play, well, tit for tat.

Frackin Kobe haters, man. Jeez. Ya'll take things to an atomic level of myopia.

 

[BigRedRage]

I didnt get to see a single game on tv so hard to talk about. The only olympics I ever seemed to catch was water based sports.

 

[Superbone]

I didnt get to see a single game on tv so hard to talk about. The only olympics I ever seemed to catch was water based sports.

I watched every US game from start to finish as well as many others. The Olympic basketball channel on DirecTV was great.