Bay Area Sports Blogging

They did it!  Team USA men's basketball team has brought back Olympic Gold.  After being disappointed time after time, this year's team, nicknamed "The Redeem Team," has redeemed the country's dominance over basketball.

The Gold medal game between Team USA and Spain was a nail biter.  Spain was neck and neck with Team USA up until the last few minutes.  It took incredible play by the NBA's finest to squeeze out a victory.  This game felt like it could have gone either way.

No surprise here; the favorite to win the FIBA Americas tournament won. Team USA defeated Argentina 118-81 on Sunday to win the Gold medal. The first five minutes of the game was played hard and carried much tension. It wasn't until late in the first quarter did Team USA finally start to pull away. For a short minute, it almost felt like Argentina could win.

The game was fun to watch. We fought the blistering 104° Vegas heat between the parking lot and the Thomas and Mack Center. After Team USA got on a run in the first quarter, it was free and smooth the rest of the way. Luis Scola played well for Argentina, but he was not enough. If Argentina had played their full squad, including Manu Ginobuli, Fabricio Oberto, and Andres Nocioni, the game would have been much closer. Enough to beat this Team USA? Probably not.

The FIBA Americas Championship 2007 tournament is happening now at the Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV in Las Vegas. Team USA rolled through their first opponent last night, on opening night, winning 112 - 69 over Venezuela. Uruguay won 88 - 84 over Panama. Brazil beat Canada 75 - 67. Mexico wins 100 - 89 over Puerto Rico.

Today was Day 2 of the 12 day tournament. Today's game had Argentina scoring 90 points to defeat Uruguay at 69 points. Canada wins over Venezuela 80 - 73. Puerto Rico smashes Panama, 108 - 67. Team USA continues to bowl over their opponents, winning 123 - 59 over the Virgin Islands.

Team USA begins their daily scrimmages as preparation for the 2007 FIBA Americas championships. Team USA will play daily scrimmage games against Team USA Select, a secondary group of young, high rising NBA players, until August 22nd, when the FIBA Americas tournament begins.

The FIBA Americas Championship tournament is held in Las Vegas, between August 22nd and September 2nd. The bracket style tournament splits ten teams into 2 groups. The top two teams from this tournament will have earned a place in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th place finishers will participate in the 2008 Olympic Qualifiers to earn a place in the Olympic Games. Teams finishing outside of the top 5 are eliminated and will not be represented in the Olympics.