It wasn’t easy, but the Men’s USA Basketball Team beat Spain today to claim gold at the 2012 London Olympics.
The Americans were the favorites heading into the Gold Medal Game but Pau Gasol and the Spanish Team made Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul fight for their 107-100 victory.
The Americans led by just one at the end of the first half and they couldn’t build their lead at all during the third quarter. The Americans found their stride in the fourth however and were able to build a small lead thanks to the 3-point shooting of Durant, Paul, and James.
Durant added 30, James scored 19, and Bryant added 17 for the Americans. Pau Gasol kept the Spanish team in the game with 24 points. Juan Carlos Navarro added another 21.
It is the second straight Gold medal for the American team and for Lebron James, it caps one of the greatest individual years in basketball history. USA Today reports that James became just the second person to win an NBA Championship, a regular season MVP award, a finals MVP award, and a Gold Medal in the same year. (Michael Jordan is the only other player to accomplish the same feat.)
But the individual accomplishments were lost, at least for the moment, on James.
The reigning MVP said : “It’s all about the three letters on the front.”
