shots. I really thought that an unsung hero of this game was Kevin Love, how he had to battle inside defensively because we had a big height disadvan- tage in there. He helped make a couple of stops for us down the stretch that were just huge. We are proud of the gold medal, very appreciative of the support we got here. It’s a heck of a thing. I love the way my guys responded today.” Making 8-of-13 shots, James added
19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a team-high four assists; Bryant added 17 points; and Paul finished with 11 points and three steals. Love grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to go with nine points. “They are a tough team,” Durant
James Harden (left) and Tyson Chandler (right) helped propel the United States to Olympic gold. Harden’s 3-point shooting kept teams on their toes, and just as he had done for the USA at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Chandler offered the U.S. an inside presence.
Ginobili pulled Argentina within
four points, 47-43, to start the second half, but two free throws from Paul were followed by a tip-in from Chandler and the USA led by eight points, 51-43, at 9:07.
Ginobili again came up big for
Argentina with a three-point play at 7:51, but that was the last time the South Americans would have the momentum. Durant bookended a score from Paul with 3-pointers at 7:10 and 6:28 to push the lead to 13 points, 59-46. Argentina closed to within eight points, 59-51, but this time James reversed the trend, finishing an assist from Paul and then throwing down a powerful dunk that also earned him a free throw on a foul to restore a double-digit, 64-51 advantage at 3:46. Argentina scored just six more points as Durant sank two 3-pointers to help the USA compile 10 more points and a 74-57 third-quarter lead. “We have guys on this team that can
get blistering hot,” stated Bryant. “They get hot quick. Me, KD (Durant) and Melo (Anthony) knocked down two shots each and all of a sudden the floodgates opened. It feels like we can’t miss and it just seems like it happens instantaneously.” It rained threes for the USA in the fourth quarter, including four from
USA Basketball News
Anthony in a span of 1:22, as well as two from Williams and one 3-pointer apiece from Westbrook, Durant, Harden and Paul. Overall, the USA shot its way to 35 points while Argentina scored 26 to bring the game to its 109-83 final. Ginobili led his team with 18 points,
while Carlos Delfino and Luis Scola added 15 points apiece.
USA 107, Spain 100 In a game that featured 16 lead
changes and six tied scores, 30 points from Durant led a balanced attack that helped the U.S. fight off Spain for a 107-100 win to capture the Olympic gold medal. In a rematch of the 2008 Beijing
Olympic gold medal game, which also saw the USA defeat Spain, Durant grabbed nine rebounds and shot 5-of-13 from 3-point to set a U.S. Olympic sin- gle-game record for 3-pointers attempt- ed. He also drew nine Spanish fouls and finished 9-of-10 from the free throw line. “We know that we won a great bas-
ketball game today. They were really good, and I thought we were really good. And we had to be in order to win. “Foul trouble hurt us, their size hurt
us,” Krzyzewski continued. “Our guys have come through all the time. We got some defensive stops and hit some big
said of Spain. “They made it tough for us all night. Fourth quarter, we were able to pull away, make some big shots. We have so many weapons on this team that can take over a game, but everybody chipped in tonight, and we got a really good win.”
USA 107, Spain 100 August 12, 2012
USA
Bryant Paul
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 27 5-10 4- 5 223 17 33 4- 9 1- 2 023 11
Chandler 9 1- 2 0- 0 102 2 Durant James Love
Harden Davis
38 8-18 9-10 911 30 30 8-13 2- 2 744 19 18 2- 3 5- 6 904 9 1 0- 0 2- 4 000 2 1 0- 0 0- 0 101 0
Anthony 21 3- 9 0- 0 534 8 Westbrook 9 1- 2 1- 2 100 3 Williams 10 2- 4 0- 0 013 6 Iguodala 3 0- 0 0- 0 102 0 Totals 200 34-70 24-31 37 13 27 107
ESP MIN FG FT R A PF PTS
M. Gasol 17 8-10 1- 1 214 17 P. Gasol 33 9-17 6- 8 873 24 Fernandez 37 3- 7 7- 8 615 14 Navarro 32 7-17 3- 3 221 21 Calderon 17 0- 1 0- 0 211 0 Claver
Emeterio 1 0- 0 0- 0 001 0 Llull Ibaka Sada
1 0- 0 0- 0 000 0 18 2- 4 0- 0 032 5
22 2- 5 8-10 913 12 1 0- 0 0- 0 001 0
Rodriguez 14 2- 4 2- 2 263 7 Reyes
7 0- 2 0- 0 203 0
Totals 200 33-67 27-32 35 22 27 100 USA
Spain
35 24 24 24 27 31 24 18
-- 107 -- 100
3PT FGs-USA (15-37): Durant 5-13, Bryant 3-7, Anthony 2-6, Paul 2-4, Williams 2-2, James 1-3, Love 0-1, Westbrook 0-1; Spain (7-19): Navarro 4-9, Fernandez 1-4, Llull 1-2, Rodriguez 1-2, P. Gasol 0-1, Calderon 0-1, ; TO-USA 11, Spain 11; BLKS-USA 1, Spain 1; STLS-USA 7, Spain 4.
31
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images
Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images
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