4:30 Eastern Today: Team USA Faces Only Competition

HacksawJimDuggan12 years ago

One of the biggest stories of the Olympics is the journey of the US men’s basketball team. The team has made headlines for Kobe Bryant’s statement regarding this lineup being better than the 1992 Dream Team, and Anthony Davis’ rise as a superstar, among others.

Today at 4:30 Eastern, the US team will face Spain, considered the clear second best international hoops team. The Spaniards are good and quite cocky, claiming they are better than the United States team. In fact, when the Minnesota Timberwolves lost a regular season game to the Los Angeles Lakers, Ricky Rubio was overheard Olympic trash talking to Kobe. The conversation went as follows:

Bryant: “You talking about London?”

Gasol: “Oh yeah.”

Rubio: “You’re gonna be there?”

Bryant: “Yeah.”

Rubio: “You know you’re getting the silver medal. You know that.”

Bryant: “Shiiiiiiit! I’m taking bets. If I win, I get the keys to Barcelona.”

Rubio: “I bet what you want.”

Bryant: “I’ll take it!”

Unfortunately, Ricky Rubio is injured, so Americans won’t be able to watch Kobe personally devastate him on both ends of the court. However, the Spanish team is still formidable, with NBA players such as Marc and Pau Gasol, Jose Calderon, and Serge Ibaka. With only a 6-point victory over Argentina, Team USA will certainly get their act together and dominate like it’s 1898.

• [via Deadspin]
• [via ESPN]