Rematch?

Fans could very well see a rematch of Saturday’s game between the United States and Spain, and between Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, before the Beijing Games are over.  Bryant’s U.S. squad trounced Spain over the weekend on convincing fashion, making themselves the clear-cut favorite at this juncture of the tournament.  But it’s a single-elimination format from here on out and anything can happen.  Many international basketball pundits believed that Spain was the best squad entering these Olympic Games.

The Spanish team boasts NBA players Paul Gasol and Jose Calderon, not exactly lightweights.  Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez are set to join the NBA ranks this upcoming season and 17-year-old phenom Ricky Rubio is projected to be a top five pick in the NBA draft in the next year or two.  While Spain does have a really solid squad, they haven’t lived up to their potential in Beijing, while the U.S. has turned heads, winning all of their games without breaking a sweat.  The defensive work of Bryant, Dwyane Wade’s return to Flash form and the whole squad’s long range shooting turnaround as the games progressed have all been paramount in the team’s success.  While Spain has the ability to give the them a run, it’s hard to see the U.S. heading home with anything less than gold.

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Posted in General on August 19, 2008

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