The United States only led by one at the half and were tied late in the third quarter, but eventually, Kevin Durant and LeBron James made the shots to allow their team to pull away and earn a 107-100 victory and a gold medal for Team USA.
Spain played a spectacular game, with lots of foul calls slowing the tempo and preventing the United States from breaking and Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro each playing phenomenally, finishing with 24 and 21, respectively. Durant nailed three after three to finish with 30 points, and a late three by James on a mismatch against Marc Gasol proved to be the dagger for the United States. James finished with 19 while Kobe Bryant had 17.
Players from New York's squads didn't have phenomenal games: Carmelo Anthony looked on pace to continue his unreal Olympic scoring with eight points in the opening minutes, but didn't score for the rest of the game, finishing with less points than shots. The Nets' Deron Williams drilled his only two three-point attempts of the game, but that was the extent of his performance off the bench. And Tyson Chandler didn't score after the game's opening basket as coach Mike Krzyzewski played eavy amounts of small-ball with Chandler on the bench, and when Chandler was in, he often looked outmatched by Gasol.
It's the second gold for Anthony and Williams, but the first for Chandler. If Anthony can continue his shooting from this tournament over into the NBA season, the Knicks will be thrilled.
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