Olympic Basketball Recap

Another big event that happened in basketball’s offseason was… drum roll please… the Olympics!

Team USA was unbeaten in London this summer in both men’s and women’s basketball, but the American men were pushed to the limit by Spain in one of the closest basketball finals in Olympic history. Four years after beating Spain in Beijing 118-107, the US found itself in another close game, barely able to slow down the Spanish until the finals minutes. After three quarters, the US led Spain by just one point in an I-can't-take-my-eyes-off-the-TV kind of game that people hope to witness. Winning 107-100, the US just barely beat Spain (probably due to Kevin Durant scoring 30 points) and won their second straight Olympic championship. Just like in 2008, Team USA had to work for this one and they succeeded in a thrilling way. Although Spain was surely disappointed with the results of their final game, my hat goes off to this country that battled many injuries throughout the year. Spain should be proud of their silver medal; it was well earned! The American team was led by Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Durant. Other members of the star-studded team included Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and Andre Iguodala.

The London 2012 daily magazine proclaimed Bryant, James, Durant and the rest of the American team as "the new Dream Team" in an article. I don't know if I would go so far as to call them the new Dream Team since in my eyes no one will ever compare to Michael Jordan (Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and the rest of the 1992 Team USA players), but this year's American men's basketball team is certainly a team that will go down in history.