Whew!

I just watched the U.S. hang on to beat Spain for the gold medal in men's basketball. This was the first game I've watched for more than a few minutes, but from having read recaps of every other game, it didn't go quite like I expected. A few thoughts:

1. The announcers were fawning all over how Kobe Bryant won the game for the U.S. in the fourth quarter. My take is that Kobe put them in that position with his play in the third quarter. Once Spain got it close and the U.S. started getting nervous, Kobe started playing like he was on the Lakers. He started hogging possessions and forced several threes. Even though he made a few of those shots, the U.S. lost the beautiful rhythm they'd been in in the first half. They played much of the second half like an NBA team, with one guy dribbling and four guys watching. Similarly, Carmelo had forced a few bad threes, and him hurting his hand on the backboard ended up being a blessing. It forced Coach K to take him out and got Dwayne Wade back in.

2. Hats off to Spain. Pau Gasol is the only player who could have made the U.S. team, yet they played phenomenally as a team, and made guys like Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro look like the best players in the world. They did just what the announcers said they needed to do: hang around long enough to make the U.S. get nervous. I was hoping for another 37 point blowout, but the possibility of the U.S. losing sure made it compelling for 40 minutes.

3. With that said, the refs played a substantial roll in keeping the game close. Overall I thought they probably made nearly as many horrendous calls for each team. My big complaint was the inconsistency of calls. The whole first half they called ticky-tack fouls which quickly got Kobe and LeBron in foul trouble, and when the U.S. started to pull away in the middle of the second quarter they called fouls on so many possessions (both ways) that it got them out of rhythm and allowed Spain to creep back into it. Then, when everyone had gotten used to the idea that there would be a whistle for just touching your opponent, the refs basically stopped calling everything in the second half. Furthermore, I thought they let a ton of travels go (mostly for Spain), and I can't believe that the Spanish bench never got a technical. The refs must have warned them to back off the court and sit down at least 3 or 4 times, and on one occasion they even threw a towel on the court. With college or NBA refs, I suspect the game would have been much less close.

4. Ricky Rubio is going to be amazing. he's 17 and held his own against the best players in the world. When I heard he was 17 I figured he'd be eaten alive by Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, and Deron Williams. He will be unbelievable when he's 25.

5. Was it just me, or did Michael Redd look like Kanye West sitting on the bench all game?

6. Who do you think David Beckham was cheering for? He played in Spain for years, but currently lives and plays in the U.S. I'm thinking the U.S., but I never saw him react one way or the other. I suspect it was a Jordan/Tiger marketing thing where you remain as neutral as possible about any opinion so as to never alienate potential fans. Or maybe he doesn't know the rules. Who knows.

All in all, I was pleased to see the U.S. win, and enjoyed this team more than any U.S. Olympic team since the Dream Team in 1992. I was so glad to have players who genuinely wanted to play for their country. I openly cheered against the Starbury 2004 team, and really didn't care for the 2000 team (as an aside: I just looked at the 2000 roster. Can you believe that we won the Olympics with Vin Baker, Steve Smith, Antonio McDyess, and Allan Houston on the roster?). It was really fun to watch some of the best players in the world play together and actually play like a team. I hope we can continue to get this kind of commitment and effort in the coming years. I forget where I heard this, but someone talked about how the U.S. basketball team can become like the Brazilian soccer team, in that they are every countries second favorite team because of the way they play. I agree with that sentiment and hope that both Obama and McCain take note. I'm sick of the rest of the world hating our country.