The scoreboard said United States 118, Spain 107 at the end of the Olympics gold-medal game on Sunday in Beijing, but the big winner was the sport of basketball. Already the major team professional sport that attracts the most attention at the Olympics, basketball was witnessed in all its glory on Sunday by a truly worldwide audience, much of which stayed up through the night to watch. Those fans who didn't wake up for it assumed that the U.S. would win in a stroll. They will be sorry they missed what was a classic thriller for almost every one of the 40 minutes played. The final was not only the highest scoring gold-medal game by far in Olympics history, but in the first half alone, the USA and Spain scored more points than the enitre 1968 and 1972 gold-medal games, and just a few short of 1988's final. Very few people expected Spain to try to outshoot the Americans, but with just over 2 minutes left, the score was 104-108 and the game could have gone either way. Credit the USA for finding its top players of the day, Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant, and credit them for hitting the big shots that won it, fair and square. But credit Spain, which played without injured starter Jose Manuel Calderon, for proving again that European basketball remains highly competitive, beyond all doubt, on the world's biggest basketball stage.

The first half was surely the greatest offensive display in Olympic...

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,...

The day started with a 17-year-old point guard walking on-court to run the reigning world champions in the do-or-die stage of the Olympics men's basketball tournament. It ended with an open three-point shot in the air that would change the fates of two teams - when it missed. In between, Wednesday's four quarterfinal games offered plenty of fascination for anyone who loves basketball. If a year or more ago someone had predicted that the Olympics semifinalists would be Argentina, Lithuania, Spain and the USA - with Greece missing out by the margin of that open three-pointer - there might not have been much of an argument. To watch it all unfold that way on Wednesday, however, was something to see.
Spain began its quarterfinal with Croatia under the baton of young Ricky Rubio and the big-game resolve of Pau Gasol. Spain's defense wasn't so fearsom as in the World Championships final two years ago, when it barely allowed an easy pass, but had a similar spark on Wednesday as Croatia struggled to break 30 points midway through the third quarter. Spain fans will also be encouraged by the variety of offensive contributors, in particular big men Felipe Reyes and Jorge Garbajosa. By taking Croatia completely out of the quarterfinal so quickly, and not depending on three-pointers at all, Spain left a teasing impression that its best basketball is still to come.

Lithuania was...

The knockout stage of the 2008 Olympics men's basketball tournament starts on Wednesday with an air of unpredictability. It's true that one team, the United States, has stepped forward as the favorite. That is based less on its 32.2-point average winning margin than its talent and focus. After all, the last U.S. team to win gold, at Syndey in 2000, won by 29 points on average before the quarterfinals, but was pushed hard prior to winning the tournament. Likewise, at the last World Championships, the U.S. won by 28 per game before the quarters - and got eliminated. That history says that anything can still happen. The question is which other teams are ready to push or eliminate? That's where there is the most unpredictability, but with four teams in the quarters, Europe once again is a likely candidate to be in the hunt until the very end. Here's how the quarterfinal matchups look...and some fearless predictions.

Spain vs. Croatia

Few would have said so before the tournament, but this matchup can now be called a tossup. Even though it has only lost to the United States so far, Spain has looked less than convincing during long stretches, due in part to the worst three-point shooting of any team in Beijing. Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio have anchored the offense and defense, respectively, but others will have to step up now that elimination games are here. Good candidates include Rudy...