Marc Gasol of Spain shoots the ball Photo credit: Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)
(BEIJING, August 16) -- The star-studded US Men's Basketball Team ended Spain's winning streak by thrashing the defending world champion 119-82 in the preliminary round of the Olympic Basketball tournament on August 16.
Heavily favored, Team USA is set for redemption after missing out on gold at the Athens Games and continues its undefeated run in Beijing 2008 with the sensational win over Spain.
Mike Krzyzewski's men played impressively on the defensive end and shot with amazing accuracy, making 58% from the floor compared to 39% by Spain.
"We knew that we were both unbeaten teams and we had to come up big," said US guard Chris Paul.
"I was really proud of how we came into this game – focused, from the beginning to the end, especially on the defensive end," Carmelo Anthony told FIBA.COM.
"We put pressure on the ball and everything worked out better than the previous two games. I think we got a lot better today.
The US side had nine players scoring in the double digits, with Lebron James leading at 18 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Dwyane Wade came just behind at 16 points to tie with Carmelo Anthony. Chris Paul netted 14, and Kobe Bryant and Deron Williams, 11 apiece.
Felipe Reyes was the biggest contributor for Spain, scoring 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 20:02, while Pau Gasol had 13 points plus six rebounds.
"Obviously this wasn't a good game for us," said Gasol.
"I don't feel happy at all with how we played tonight. They played with much more intensity and we weren't able to start with that intensity and we weren't able to keep up the whole game.
"Twenty-eight turnovers is a staggering number, and it's a number that you can't have a chance in a basketball game if you do that."
Prior to the victory over Spain, the US men defeated Greece, China, and Angola and will wrap up the group B preliminary competitions with a clash against Germany. Spain will go head-to-head with Angola.
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