After struggling to finish off Argentina a few days ago, Team USA’s upcoming matchup with rival Spain was highly anticipated. The talk surrounding this game was that the Americans may continue to struggle with the Spanish big men being too much to handle for Coach K’s squad.
One of the biggest disadvantages that Team USA has heading into the 2012 Olympics is size and length. With Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge and most importantly Dwight Howard sitting out with injuries, Team USA is extremely limited in the frontcourt and may struggle throughout the Olympics against teams with size like Spain.
The Spanish national team may be without international superstar point guard Ricky Rubio (torn ACL) for the Olympics, but the make up for the absence of the up-and-coming floor general with the presence of Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol in the paint. With these two monsters controlling the painted area, Spain has a solid shot of competing with the Americans.
Unfortunately, that dominance in the paint wasn’t on display on Tues. with Team USA taking down Spain, 100-78.
The first half of this game was telling with Gasol and company taking control early in the contest, but as time wore on, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James took over and led the Americans to a statement victory.
Melo and LeBron combined for 52 points, and turned out to be too much for Spain to handle. The Spanish squad definitely showed promise with superb ball movement and solid defense in the first half, but they were unable to keep up the pace in the second half as USA pulled away.
Despite the win for Team USA, the Americans did show some flaws that can be exploited in the coming weeks if they matchup with Spain or Argentina during the 2012 Olympics once again.
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