USA Brings Gold Medal Home

The United States basketball team captured the gold medal on Sunday with a 118-107 win over Spain in the gold medal game. The United States missed out on the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in Greece when they lost to Argentina and they ended up getting the bronze medal. This year, the team made it their mission to capture the gold medal and bring it back to America. The team, labeled "The Redeem Team," blew by the competition in the Olympics, reminiscent of the 1992 Dream Team that blew by the competition in the Olympics in Barcelona. Things started getting tough for the United States in the games that counted. They played Argentina again for the right to move on to the gold medal game and they had problems. Argentina's best player, 3-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs, got injured early in the first quarter and didn't play again. The United States then went ahead and led by 21 before Argentina came back and trimmed America's lead down to 6. Luis Scola of Argentina, who plays for the NBA's Houston Rockets, was dominant against any defender from the United States. But they pulled through for a 20 point victory. The gold medal game was thought to be easy but it wasn't. The U.S. offense was good as usual, but their defense wasn't. They gave up an Olympic team high 107 points, after blowing out Spain in pool play a week and a half earlier. Does this win show the U.S. is back on top? Was this the best U.S. Olympic team ever?