ESPN: Spain tried everything. Pretty much none of it worked.
The zone? Team USA shot over it, drove the baseline against it and picked it apart.
The pick-and-roll? Spain tried it a lot early, and you know how many points its best player, Pau Gasol, had in the first 12 ½ minutes against it? Zero.
The press? Let’s put it this way: If another team tries to use the full-court press against Team USA, it might as well just walk off the court and forfeit. Open up the court for the Americans, like the Greeks did two nights earlier and like the Spanish foolishly tried to in this one, and they’ll crush you.
What made Saturday’s 119-82 throttling of Spain so impressive was the way the Americans did everything so extraordinarily well. They’re getting better each game, they’re improving their few weak areas and the only thing that’s scary about this 37-point beatdown is the notion that they might have peaked.
It’s up to them to prove that they haven’t, because the plane ride home is still more than a week away. But if they’re going to keep bringing it like they brought it against the reigning world champions, there’s no way they’re going to lose.
“Twenty-eight turnovers is just a staggering number,” said Gasol, whose team’s field goal total matched its turnover total.
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