US hoopsters demolish world champion Spain

What gives? According to the anti-US hoop media, particularly, ESPN’s Chris Sherdian who has practically been cheerleading their opponents with article titles like “Angola Was Easy; Greece Won’t Be”, Spain and Greece was supposed to teach the “DreamTeam 2.0” a lesson. By now you know all of the tired clichés of why the greatest group of basketball talent assembled since 1992 can’t win—they’re selfish, they don’t embrace the “team concept”, they don’t understand International rules, so on and so forth. So where are the naysayers now? They’re either making like Sheridan and flip flopping like a carp on a dock saying that the US hoop team is awesome, or else they’ve gone into hiding.

The US hoop team demolished world champion Spain on Saturday morning by 37 points. Sum total margin of victory from this game and the Greek team that was also supposed to “push them to the limit”? 60 points--which would have been even greater had the US not coasted through the 4th quarter against Greece.

For the first time in the games, they didn’t let off the gas after three quarters as they wanted to make a statement against the reigning world champion. The domination was almost frightening; with the US shooting 57% from the floor while holding the Spanish team to 39.4%. Don’t forget that the “steely eye accuracy” of the European shooters is yet another area of the game in which they’re supposed to be superior to their US counterparts. That assumes that they’re able to get an open shot off, which they weren’t under the pressure of a swarming US defense.

LeBron James led the typically balanced US attack this time, scoring 18 points. In a frightening display of the American’s depth he was the only starter that played more than 20 minutes. Dwayne Wade added 16 points off the bench and 5 of their teammates scored in double digits. Utah’s Deron Williams once again ran the offense for the bulk of the game and did an exceptional job.

So what next for the Americans? A game against 1-3 Germany to close pool play on Monday followed by the medal round competition. In other words, four wins and they’re the gold medal winners. In theory, they can afford to lose to the Germans but judging from the insane focus and drive of this team that isn’t likely. What is likely is that some of the players lost in the logjam of talent—Carlos Boozer, Tayshaun Prince and Michael Redd particularly—will get some more minutes to showcase their skills.

While the world is finally realizing the obvious—that this is the best collection of basketball talent on the planet—not receiving sufficient credit has been LeBron James’ for his leadership on and off the floor and Kobe Bryant for his willingness to let him lead. The much maligned Kobe has displayed nothing but professionalism and class—along with his unrivaled skills—during this game. More importantly, there’s been none of the “ball hog” antics that have popped up at various points in his career. In fact, if anything he’s more interested in getting his teammates involved than taking the shot himself. He’s also shown a willingness to do whatever it takes to win, which is what championship level superstars are supposed to do.