U.S. basketball takes gold
Spain made a run for it, but in the end couldn’t match up to the NBA’s best Americans. The U.S. Olympic basketball team defeated the Spanish team 107-100 to win its’ second consecutive Olympic gold. The team won in Beijing 118-107, also defeating Spain.
The Americans led by just one point heading into second half, but pulled away late in the fourth quarter for the victory. Kevin Durant led the field with 30 points, while LeBron James wasn’t far off with 19. Kobe Bryant and Kevin Love also made big contributions, with 17 and nine points, respectively.
Pau Gasol led Spain with 24 points, but despite giving the Americans a scare at halftime, couldn’t overcome the team compared to the 1992 “dream team.”
According to USA Today, the U.S. has won 14 of the 16 gold medal games in which it has played and is now 130-5 in Olympic games. The U.S. has also now won 17 consecutive Olympics games.
Earlier Sunday, Russia beat Argentina 81-77 in the bronze medal game. It was the first Olympic basketball medal for the Russians’ since 1988 when the Soviet Union won gold. 1988 marked the last Olympics before professional basketball players were allowed to compete.
National team coach Mike Krzyzewski has said he’s retiring from coaching the Olympic team after the London Games. He was an assistant coach for the 1992 “dream team”, and served as head coach in Beijing as well as this summer in London.
