USA steamrolls Spain in Olympics tuneup: Did Spain tank on purpose?

The US men's basketball team dismantled Spain – supposedly its biggest challenger in London – 100-78 Tuesday in Barcelona. But Spain might still have something up its sleeve.  

|
Manu Fernandez/AP
Carmelo Anthony of the US Olympic basketball team (c.) dives for the ball against Serge Ibaka (l.) and Pau Gasol of Spain during an exhibition match between Spain and the United States Tuesday in Barcelona, Spain, in preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Did the Team USA just announce itself as the prohibitive favorites heading into the London Olympics, or was Spain playing possum?

We'll probably have to wait until a potential matchup in the final to find out. And that could be just the way the Spanish like it. 

Based on the evidence from Tuesday's 100-78 thrashing in Barcelona, the Spanish threat to America's gold-medal defense in men's basketball would appear to be something along the lines of a pop gun arrayed against an armored tank unit (LeBron James, of course, being the tank). Then again, all the evidence is that we don't have all the evidence.

Before the game, there were noises that Spain was not going to try to win. American Kobe Bryant barked that Spain would be mad not to take this game on the 20th anniversary of the Dream Team's gold-medal run in Barcelona seriously.

"They're at home, man. They have to play us [hard]. You think they can just come out and lose in front of their own fans?"

The answer to that question, it appears, is "yes." Emphatically. 

It may transpire that the US is better than Spain. Perhaps significantly better. It is hard to imagine, however, that it is 22 points better – in other words, that Spain is go-back-to-Barcelona-with-your-tail-between-your-legs worse. 

Which brings us back to the question of whether Spain pulled its punches. 

By not playing Marc Gasol, who is nursing a minor injury, it certainly pulled at least one.

And it's not inconceivable that there were more.

In truth, what advantage would Spain gain in actually winning this game? There is little doubt that the US is the better team. With its size, Spain can cause the USA problems, but they are not problems without solutions for the American team. The US, meanwhile asks questions that other teams cannot consistently answer.

For instance, who guards James, much less the rest of the US backcourt? 

How do you counter the speed and athleticism of the US defense?

To win Tuesday's game would mean answering these questions, and to answer these questions would be to provide the blueprint for beating the US – and to allow the US coaches and players 2-1/2 weeks of planning to counter it. 

Spain's Pau Gasol hinted at this before the game, saying of Bryant, his teammate on the Los Angeles Lakers: "I'd like to maybe let him win tomorrow and maybe beat him in London. That would be ideal."

The fact is, Spain probably has only a puncher's chance of beating the US  In London.

It is no wonder, then, that perhaps it did not throw that punch in Barcelona. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to USA steamrolls Spain in Olympics tuneup: Did Spain tank on purpose?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Olympics/2012/0724/USA-steamrolls-Spain-in-Olympics-tuneup-Did-Spain-tank-on-purpose
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe