This post went up about an hour before tipoff of the gold medal game, and the entire world was already certain that the United States would defeat Spain for the gold medal in London. In the fourth quarter, that didn’t look like such a sure thing, but all that mattered at the end was USA 107; Spain 100. The betting line on the game went from 19 1/2 to 21 1/2, and Spain went from a 20-1 underdog to 25-1. Those were
// Team USA will face Spain on Sunday in a rematch of the 2008 Beijing final. The Americans survived Pau Gasol’s 21 points to win a 118-107 classic and recapture the gold medal they were unworthy of in Athens four years earlier. There was no way to tell by watching that fiercely contested final that only a week earlier, the United States had beaten the same Spanish team by 37. And when it comes to Olympic basketball, that’s just it. Given the
The French went down flagrantly, with a nut shot from Ronny Turiaf on Rudy Fernandez and a felonious foul by Nicolas Batum against Juan Carlos Navarro. France missed 11 consecutive shots before getting a meaningless one with 9 seconds left, and a new chapter of crunch time failure was added to Les Blues’ history book in a 66-59 quarterfinal loss at the Olympics in London. Batum committed an intentional foul that was so flagrant, a hard, long-armed swipe that knocked Navarro to
I am going to give you a Team USA gold-or-not prediction in this column, and I promise you a prediction that goes against the grain. That’s all I’ll say about that … for now. First, I’ll hand over the podium and relay a quote that could be the defining declaration concerning the London Olympics: “Let’s no longer beat about the bush. This summer’s Olympics Games are going to be a catalog of disasters. Not everything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Around this time last season, the NBA was clouded with uncertainty due to the likelihood of a lockout – which of course, actually occurred and caused us to miss 16 games. The NBA released the upcoming season’s schedule today full of exciting and intriguing matchups such as the Miami Heat opening the season against the Boston Celtics. The best part of the release is knowing that every single game will happen no matter what David Stern and Billy Hunter wish
BARCELONA — Memo to Kevin Love: If you don’t knock someone on their ass tomorrow, and if you continue to play as though you have a sense of entitlement rather than a job to do, you are going to be watching Anthony Davis take your minutes as the last big man off the bench. That advice is based on solid intel, because the powers that be at USA Basketball are not happy that the Kevin Love they came to appreciate two
// Carmelo Anthony will be reunited with Mike D’Antoni in early July when Team USA convenes for training camp in Las Vegas. But how long the two stick together remains to be seen. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported that Anthony’s role in D’Antoni’s departure as head coach of the New York Knicks “did not sit well” with USA Basketball officials, who have always pointed to “sweat equity” as one of the key factors in who will represent the United States on
