Team USA Wins Gold

The United States men's basketball team defeated Spain in the gold medal game 107-100 on the final day of the London Olympics.  Team USA completed an extremely entertaining Olympic tournament by winning its 50th consecutive game, and its 2nd consecutive Olympic gold medal.  

Team USA brought home the gold (sneakernews.com)

The title game was a hard-fought, back and forth affair between the top two teams in the world.  This must watch event was attended by countless celebrities including Henry Kissinger, Tom Cruise, David Beckham, Arnold Schwarzenegger and even the Queen of Spain.  

From the opening tipoff it was clear that the Spaniards had arrived ready to challenge the Americans.  Spain played with a desperation that it had been missing for the entire duration of the tournament, and its defensive effort and intensity was readily apparent.  Offensively, the Spanish game plan centered on exploiting the size advantage of 7 footers Pau and Marc Gasol.  The Gasol brothers combined  for 41 points in the game, with Pau scoring 24 to go along with 8 rebounds and 7 assists.  The Gasols' effectiveness scoring in the paint on an array of jump hooks, turnaround jumpers and dunks forced the Americans to focus their defensive efforts on preventing interior scoring, which created open outside shots for Spain.  Juan Carlos Navarro was the main beneficiary, scoring 14 of his 21 points in the first quarter.

Celebrating the gold medal (business insider)

The U.S. did a fantastic job making the extra pass to find open 3-point shooters on the perimeter.  In the first quarter Team USA converted on 7 of 10 3-point shots which spread out the Spanish zone and created driving lanes to the basket.  Spain was forced to switch to man-to-man defense in order to counter the Americans' scorching outside shooting, which allowed the US to take advantage of the various mismatches it posed.  Kevin Durant was the star of the game for Team USA, scoring a game high 30 points with 5 threes.  Durant was extraordinary in every facet of the game.  His spot up shooting was sensational, he got the Spanish into foul trouble by earning 10 shots at the charity stripe, blew by defenders on his way to the basket, led the break, forced turnovers on defense, and controlled the boards by having a game high 9 rebounds.  Lebron James, who has already won a championship this year with the Miami Heat, had yet another excellent game with 19 points, 7 rebounds and a team high 4 assists.  James had two consecutive baskets with 2 minutes left in the game to put the game out of reach and secure the victory for Team USA.  The first was a mesmerizing dunk  and the second a back breaking 3-pointer with a man in his face.  Kobe Bryant also had a huge game for the US, scoring 17 points including 3 three pointers.  Chris Paul, who earned the game ball, scored 8 of his 11 points in the decisive 4th quarter.

Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Carmelo Anthony (USA Today)

While this US team did not dominate their opponents in the manner that the Dream Team did in 1992, its incredible accomplishments against very tough international opponents are worthy of a round of applause and will be remembered for years to come.