Geoff JohnsonThe USA men’s basketball team knew before the tournament even started; it was gold or bust for them; they are one game away from winning the gold medal, but they still need to defeat Spain, this Sunday at 10 am ET at North Greenwich Arena.
USA is 20 point favorites to win the final, and according to several sports odds sites has a 97% chance of winning. However, most people remember Spain gave them quite a battle four years ago in Beijing.
The Americans destroyed Argentina in the semifinal 109-83 with terrific performances by Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony. “We are very pleased with our performance tonight against a team that we have great respect for,” said USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “They are just a championship caliber team with some of the greatest international players of all time, so we have to play really well in order to win.
“I think we did a good job starting off with a lot of intensity on defense and moving the ball on offense,” Durant said. “We knew this team was going to fight all game and make it tough on us, but we did a really good job of responding when they made few runs and our defense was good. We were getting deflections and steals and able to get some easy points. When you have guys that can penetrate and past the ball like we do all you have to do is make shots. In the second half guys were looking for me and Carmelo, and we were there to hit some three’s and bust the game wide open, and we are going to get ready for a tough game on Sunday.”
Spain battled to beat Russia after trailing for eleven in the start of the third quarter. The more I think about it, I don’t see how Spain can get even close to the USA, especially considering this generation of Spanish players is getting older.
