Andrew Upshaw

Harry How/Getty Images
Well-deserved Gold Medal after a fun and exciting game.

I was six years old in 1992. I didn’t watch any of the Olympics in 1992 that I can remember. Even if I had I doubt that it would have left a lasting impression on me. You really can’t effectively follow and understand sports until the age of ten. 20 years later I admit that the Dream Team were awesome. Michael Jordan the best player ever teaming up with the two best players from the 80s in Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as well as stars who ruled the 90s ( actually Michael ruled the 90s. His Dream Team teammates had to get used to losing to him and Scottie Pippen every year). The Dream Team were a sensation at the time and still resonate to this day. So much so that every Olympic basketball team the U.S. has is in the Dream Team’s shadow. As soon as the Olympics started people and old ass Dream Teamers claimed that the Dream Team was better. Jordan ran hs mouth a little bit saying that the Dream Team had 11 hall of famers and there just isn’t any way to top that. That’s a statement that’s only true in hindsight. Some players in this year’s team are already hall of famers (Kobe Bryant, LeBron James) but most are young bucks (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love). It’s also an unfair comparison and in many ways inaccurate. A hall of fame career is a career that combined greatness and longevity. Every one on this year’s Olympic team has hall of fame potential (except Tyson Chandler) so for the purpose of putting together a great Olympic team, it’s really hard to put one team over the other. Lebron and Kobe both like the 2012 U.S. team over the Dream Team. Either way.

The Dream Team killed every other team they played. Since 2004 the U.S. has played real basketball games, in which a loss has been an actual reality. In 2004 the U.S. lost to a Manu Ginobili-led Argentina team. And in 2008 the U.S. barely beat a Pau Gasol led Spanish team. This is the main reason I was hyped for these Olympics. I wanted to a U.S. team in a great basketball game. That’s much more appealing to me than the dominance of the Dream Team. In these Olympics we go the best of both worlds. against Nigeria the U.S. went OFF scoring 156 points and dominating in a way that even the Dream Team couldnt reach. Then the very next game they  only beat Lithuania by 5. I missed that game and don’t know if Lithuania brought their A game or if the U.S. slacked off too much. I do know that Spain brought it for real for the second Olympics in a row. That Gold medal game was fun. Fun in a way the Dream Team never were (except in practice when they went at each other in what were allegedly some of the fiercest, competitive games ever).

In the first quarter the U.S. hit a crazy amount of threes( they were 7 of 10) and looked like they were gonna pull away. Juan Carlos Navarro, former Memphis Grizzly and slept on star of the 2008 gold medal game somehow matched the three-point shooting of the U.S. and even had a AND-1 three-pointer. After one quarter the U.S. was up by 8, but Spain was hanging in there. The second quarter was as strange as any quarter of basketball I’ve seen. Kevin Durant keep the U.S. going but the refs slowed them down. Hell, the refs dominated the game in the second quarter more than any player did. Fouls were calls on almost every play. 22 fouls were called in all which is insane considering the quarters are only 10 minutes long. Juan Carlos Navarro kept up his hot shooting and Ruby Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez hit some shots of their own. But they also shot a ton of free throws some of which involved flopping. Spain was hurt by the fouls though too. Marc Gasol somehow got 4 fouls called him in the first half. In FIBA officiated games there are only 5 fouls each for a player and as a result Marc sat much of the game. Serge Ibaka played very well though so I’m not sure how much they missed Marc. At the half the U.S was up 59-58.

At this point I found myself rooting in a very bizarre way. I wanted the U.S. to win, but I didn’t want them to pull away too early in the second half like they did against Argentina. Thankfully Pau Gasol played out of his mind in the third quarter outscoring the entire U.S. team for a stretch. The U.S. decided to cover Pau in single coverage believing that Tyson Chandler could handle him. Pau ate him up as he did to Kevin Love, which wasn’t as surprising. Pau also found the open man setting up Serge Ibaka for a few big baskets. Spain took the lead briefly but weren’t able to build or maintain it through the quarter. The U.S. were kept a float in the third behind Lebron, Durant, and Kobe. Lebron was setting every one up and Durant in particular was knocking them down. Kevin dropped 30 beastly points on Spain and the U.S. had a one point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Larry W. Smith/EPA
Pau had 24 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Beast.

The start of the fourth started off bad for Spain. For whatever reason Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo took Gasol out to start the fourth quarter. Perfectly acceptable 99% of the time. But when your team is overly matched talent-wise playing a close game and its for a championship or gold-medal you DON’T sit your best guy. In the playoffs this past season both Lebron and Durant played the entire game a few times and today was Pau’s turn especially with his brother on the bench still with foul trouble. The Ibaka-led Spaniards quickly got down by 6 behind more three-points form the U.S. Gasol came back into the game with 7 minutes left and quickly left again after Lebron hit him in the eye. Lebron sat out a few with foul trouble though so I guess its even.  Chris Paul made some plays including a step-back three of his own to stretch the lead to 10. Spain got it down to 6 again with three minutes left. Pau had Love posted up for a few good looks but missed them this time and that was that although Spain kept fighting every second of the game. The U.S. held on to win 107-100.

Many international players like Gasol and Ginobili credit the Dream Team for sparking their interest in basketball and for that the Dream Team’s legacy will always live on. Cuz now these foreign guys can ball and for that I’m thankful. Blowouts are no fun to watch.

John McDonough/Icon SMI/Newscom/File
Props to the Dream Team for inspiring the rest of the world to get better at basketball so we don’t have watch Dream Team-style ass-kicking basketball games in The Olympics as much.

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• Why This Dream Team Is the Most Explosive in US History (bleacherreport.com)