BEIJING – Not this time, world. Sorry. Check back in four years.
So far, these are the Sure-Thing Olympics. Michael Phelps swimming in the pool. Usain Bolt running like the wind on the track. The Chinese government suppressing information on the Internet.
And the United States of America, flattening every obstacle in its path on the basketball court.
This is the way it is supposed to be, or at least the way we imagine it is supposed to be. We invented the game, after all. We raised it from a pup, from peach baskets to Pumas. From 1936 to 2004, we lost exactly two games in the Olympics, and those were to a nation that doesn’t even exist anymore.
This is the basketball of our dreams, what we’re seeing now, and the basketball of our Dream Teams. This time the final tally was U.S. 119, Spain 82, and that makes two routs in a row (after Greece) of alleged challengers to American basketball supremacy. Forget it. We can resume this conversation in London, in four years.
For now, the basketball world has returned to its axis. These American players are performing at as high a level as any Olympic team ever has – and, yes, that includes the fabled Boys of Barcelona, the original Dream Team, which was so far ahead of the world in skill and intimidation level they started every game with a 15-point lead.
This team, Redeem Team, has no such luxury, not anymore. The calamity of 2004 changed everything, three losses to Puerto Rico, Lithuania and Greece that altered the perception of all that USA Basketball has ever stood for.
Five losses in all of Olympic history, and yet entering these games the rest of the world was licking its collective lips in anticipation, lining up to get their shots in.
“I can understand that,” Carmelo Anthony said last night. He was a member of Team Disaster four years ago, and he could see the way the wheels spun off that bus. “It was a real challenge for this team to restore American basketball to where we all want it to be, to where it should be.”Four games into this tournament, the restoration is under way quite nicely, thank you. Dwyane Wade has looked like the best player on planet earth . . . and he comes in off the bench. Wave after wave of American talent enters these games and checks egos at the scorer’s table. And the result is beautiful to see.
“They wanted to make a statement,” Spain’s Pau Gasol said. “And they’ve made it. They wanted to send a message to the other teams in this tournament, and they’ve sent it.”Really, when you eyeball the assortment of talent wearing red, white and blue, it’s readily apparent that only a re-run of 2004 can submarine their pathway toward the gold medal. Those players hated playing for Larry Brown, and Brown loathed coaching them.
The resulting festering wound was on display all during the Games, and it was awful to witness. This time, things are different. Mike Krzyzewski, owner of an enormous ego in his own right, has fashioned a professional and presentable team that looks for the open man, gets after teams viciously on defense, forces turnovers and plays ridiculously hard.
“I want people to say we play basketball the way it should be played,” said Chris Paul, another supreme talent who starts the game in warm-ups. “I think, so far, that’s what you’d have to say about us.”
And, so far, here’s what you can ask of everyone else in this tournament: Who’s going to win the silver medal?