2008 Beijing Olympics Basketball Championship USA vs. Spain

The 2008 Beijing Olympics Basketball Championship USA vs. Spain ends peacefully. Team Spain tried everything to beat USA for the gold but team USA is too strong for them.

Culminating a three-year mission to end years of embarrassment, the U.S. team survived a huge challenge from Spain, winning 118-107 in the gold-medal game.

After knocking off its first seven foes by an average of more than 30 points, the Americans found themselves in a one-possession game in the fourth quarter against the 2006 World Champions, who had lost to the USA by 37 points in group play but showed plenty of character and heart in this contest. Then the U.S. began displaying some redeeming qualities of its own.

The leader was NBA MVP Kobe Bryant, who simply took over. After Spain closed to 91-89, he made a tough runner, found Deron Williams for a 3-pointer, added another hoop and broke up an alley-oop pass to rebuild the lead to 105-94. When the margin dwindled again to four points, Bryant stuck in the dagger, draining a 3-pointer and drawing a foul for a 108-99 bulge with 3:10 to go.

Dwyane Wade scored 27 points, Bryant added 20 and LeBron James 14 for the U.S., which had not won gold since the 2000 Olympics. The Americans failed to medal at the 2002 World Championships and received bronze at the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Championships, prompting an overhaul of USA Basketball.

Rudy Fernandez scored 22 points, Pau Gasol added 21 and Juan Carlos Navarro 18 for Spain, which only lost to the U.S. in this tournament and claimed a silver medal to match its best Olympic showing (1984).