Somewhere along the way to eight straight decisive wins on the world's biggest stage, America's 12 best basketball players also found time to give rise to the sports world's new favorite cliché: "Play for the letters on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back."
That's the mantra we heard time and again throughout Team USA's summer of redemption — from Kobe Bryant, from LeBron James, from Jason Kidd, and finally from leading scorer Dwyane Wade upon completion of the USA's 118-107 win over Spain in this weekend's gold-medal game.
Anyone who watched this summer's Olympic Games now fully understands what those words mean. This was an unselfish, team-oriented brand of basketball that coach Mike Krzyzewski brought to Beijing in 2008; while his dream team of super-scorers was led by much of the same nucleus as Larry Brown's squad in Athens '04 (namely James, Wade and Carmelo Anthony), it operated much differently. This team made the extra pass time and again when necessary to find the open man, and when it did, you'd better believe that open man scored.
Team USA won its first seven games in Beijing by an average of over 30 points before burying the Spaniards in a barrage of threes to win the gold. But the surprising thing about the lethal American offense was that not all of the electrifying dunks thrown down by LeBron and D-Wade came from one-on-one posterizings on the fast break. Team USA executed plays in the half-court offense like a true team — it's hard to believe these 12 guys had only been together two months.
Part of this team's maturation no doubt came naturally with age. It might have been a bit too ambitious to expect James (age 19), Wade (22) and Anthony (20) to bring home a gold medal in 2004 against the world's most seasoned players. But with each of them four years older, things changed.
In an international tournament filled with stellar defenses, where the average assist-to-turnover ratio was sub-1, Team USA created buckets for its leading scorers with ease, generating a tournament-high 150 assists to go with just 110 turnovers. While lacking a Pau Gasol or a Yao Ming to average 19-plus points a night, the Americans did boast four men in double figures.
Aside from James, Wade and Anthony (all of whom captained the United States to bronze at the 2006 World Basketball Championships), the fourth scoring option was none other than reigning NBA MVP Bryant, who finally turned out to don the red, white and blue this summer.
Bryant turned 30 this weekend, and with his twenties behind him, the new Bryant appeared to be a changed man — one prepared to set aside his own ego and assume a new role. Bryant was an emotional leader and a defensive stopper for Team USA, the type of player it certainly could have used back in Athens.
While Kobe established himself as a team leader off the floor, the Americans had three leaders on it. Their trio of point guards (Kidd, Chris Paul and Deron Williams) was once questioned as overkill. But in hindsight, it now looks perfect. The three point guards shared the minutes and the ball with ease, and all three were effective, especially Paul. While CP3 continued to be a question mark on defense, constantly gambling for steals at the risk of giving up easy buckets, one can't argue with how he quarterbacked the American attack. His 33 assists and nine turnovers speak for themselves.
As for Kidd, he cemented his legacy as one of the most successful Olympic athletes the world has ever seen. Obviously there are some confounding variables involved, as this may have more to do with his superb teammates than his own greatness, but Kidd will walk away from international basketball with an all-time record of 56-0.
As great as Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt have been so far, they still have a lot of work to do to match that.
