Olympic Basketball: Previewing USA vs. Spain: Gold Medal Game

Team USA will take on Spain on Sunday at 10 AM Eastern Time for the Gold Medal in men’s basketball.  The game will air live on NBC.

Aug 2, 2012; London, United Kingdom; United States center Anthony Davis (14) dunks the ball against Nigeria during the preliminary game in the London 2012 Olympic Games at Basketball Arena. The United States defeated Nigeria 156-73. Image Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

It all comes down to this.  Team USA has been undefeated in exhibition, preliminary and tournament action this summer en route to the Gold Medal matchup against Spain.  Team USA is currently on a 16 game Olympic winning streak.  In the games played this summer during the Olympics, Team USA has been winning by an average of 35.7 points a game.

In Gold Medal games, Team USA is 16-1 in finals play.  The sole loss came in the controversial gold medal
game against the Soviet Union in 1972.

Entering the game, Spain is 5-2 between the preliminary pool play and the tournament portion.

How they got here:  Spain was able to qualify for the Olympics by winning the 2011 EuroBasket Championship.

Team USA is 10-0 against Spain in Olympic history and has won by a margin of 28.4 points per game.  This is the third time that both teams have matched up against each other for the Gold Medal.  The two previous games were in 1984 and 2008.

Olympic Pool Play record: 80-2 (97.4%)
All-Time Olympic Record: 129-5 (96.3%)
All-Time National Team Record: 116-7

In 7 Olympic games so far, former Kentucky Wildcats star Anthony Davis has played a total of 52 minutes, averaging 8.7 minutes a game.  He’s scored 26 points, an average of 4.3 points per game.  He’s picked up 18 rebounds, an average of 3 rebounds per game.  In the 6 contests, Davis has only blocked 3 shots.  Davis did not see any action during the preliminary game against Lithuania.

Anthony Davis will become the youngest athlete to win a Gold Medal in men’s basketball on Sunday at the Olympics if all goes according to plan.  Had the USA Olympic delegation not boycotted the 1980 games in Moscow, there would have been three athletes younger than Davis, including former Wildcat star Sam Bowie.

Probable Starters
United States
F – Kevin Durant
F – LeBron James
C – Tyson Chandler
G – Kobe Bryant
G- Chris Paul

Spain
F – Rudy Fernandez
F – Pau Gasol
C – Marc Gasol
G – Juan-Carlos Navarro
G – Jose Calderon