Saturday, August 23, 2008
One day, one game, one gold
The Olympic final that many people expected is upon us. The reigning world champions from Spain take on the team that dominated Olympic basketball last century, the United States. Both won testy semifinals on Friday to assure themselves at least silver medals, but neither came to Beijing thinking about anything less than gold. The fact that the still-undefeated U.S. won their first meeting, during the group round, by 37 points, makes the Americans the favorite in the final, without doubt. Team USA has dominated in every game it has played, whereas Spain was taken to overtime by another opponent, China, and had the tougher semifinal. Still, Spain's only defeat so far was the U.S. game, so certainly the two best teams in teams in the tournament are going to decide the Olympic title. Those semifinals might also tell something about how these two teams arrive to the last of eight games each in 14 days.
The first semifinal, Spain 91-86 Lithuania, was European basketball "pure and tough", as the Spanish say. A steady stream of protagonists on both teams took turns stepping on court and going to battle for both teams. They parried for most of the first quarter, but the style of half-court chess, inside-outside probing and constant hard contact was established. Spain got the first sizeable lead, 28-20 early in the second quarter, but before halftime, there was a 14-point swing, with Simas Jasaitis and Ksistof Lavrinovic firing enough three-pointers to put Lithuania up six. Over just 30 seconds late in the half, however, Lavrinovic and his fellow Lithuanian big men Marijonas Petravicius picked up fouls that would come back to haunt them. Both fouled out midway through the fourth quarter, when their team needed all the help it could get. Spain, on the other hand, kept finding the help it needed as players used a revolving door at the head of their bench to keep fresh. After halftime, it was Real Madrid warrior Felipe Reyes battling to score inside and teenager Ricky Rubio pulling key rebounds and drawing key fouls. The fourth quarter saw Ramunas Siskauskas and Sarunas Jasikevicius, who was again in classic form as the Lithuanian floor general, give their team a 69-71 lead. The Ricky-Rudy show commenced then, however, with their patented alley-oop connection, after which Fernandez buried a three-pointer and free throws. Rubio stole next and Pau Gasol went to the foul line on Linas Kleiza's second unsportsmanlike foul, which got him ejected. Lithuania was fading, and Carlos Jimenez, who locked down Siskauskas for much of the game, finished off the victory at the foul line. In terms of preparation for the final, this semfinal war was certainly tiring, but Spain's number of contributors was encouraging for their hopes against the deep U.S. bench.
There was plenty to enjoy in the second semifinal, too. Team USA blasted off early as Argentina tried to play man-to-man, which it could have had it been healthy and deep, but could not with Andres Nocioni on the bench nursing an injury and Ginobili soon to headed there for good with three fouls and a turned ankle. The score was 4-16 at that moment, and the surprise was Nocioni replacing Ginobili. The U.S. kept rolling to a 4-21 advantage, but shortly thereafter Nocioni blocked a fastbreak dunk try by Kobe Bryant. Everything changed after the Argentines saw an injured comrade putting his body on the line. The defending champs slowed the game with a zone, the U.S. shooters went cold, and little by little the U.S. lead dwindled. In the second quarter, it dipped into single digits briefly and grew again to 13 points as Bryant finally busted the zone. The U.S. brought out designated shooter Michael Redd, too, but Argentina threw a box-and-one defense on, denying him any shots. Argentina went to Scola for consecutive baskets to make it 40-46 in the final minute before halftime, but three late free throws awarded to Carmelo Anthony made it 40-49 at the break. The second half was a different story as Ginobili remained sidelined and the U.S. followed LeBron James and Dwight Howard to consistent double-digit leads. A 14-point edge after three quarters quickly ballooned to 19 as James scored 8 points, including a pair of three-pointers, early in the fourth quarter. The closest that Argentina came after that was 13 points. In a tournament in which it has never been behind seriously, the need to react to Argentina's second-quarter surge proved the closest challenge the Americans have faced. They met it head on, too, and won rather easily.
So where does that leave us for Sunday's final? There was much talk after their first encounter that Spain had tried to play an American style against the inventors of that style, and for that reason lost by 37. It will be interesting to see if Spain now takes a page out of the Argentina book, slowing down the game with zones and long possessions, trying to force the Americans to shoot from long-range, even though the U.S. has been more than respectable from that distance. Curiously, Spain has not shot well all tournament, and one plus from the semifinal for them is being able to have won with a 4-12 disadvantage in three-pointers made, rather unusual at this level. It would help if starting point guard Jose Manuel Calderon, who sat out the semifinal with a foot problems, returns for Spain on Sunday. With or without him, however, Spain still gives the impression of not having played its best basketball yet, so few would be surprised to see a much closer game. There may also be talk of a psychological factor in that Spain has already matched its best Olympic medal ever, silver in 1984, and will play relaxed, without pressure to win gold - but all the intention in the world of trying. Anything less than gold would be considered a failure by the U.S., but if that's pressure, the Americans welcome it, even feed off it. Just being in the gold-medal game won't make them nervous, and might do quite the opposite, focus them more than ever. What it comes down to is this: the game's winner will have to play greater basketball, and on a single day in this sport, in this century, either of Sunday's finalist can do that.
POSTED BY
Vassilis Skountis, Beijing