Revenge

Greece showed up looking for a three-point shooting contest and a basketball game broke out. The U.S. took a small step towards erasing the memory of their semifinal loss in the World Championships to Greece by winning comfortably, 92-69.

The game began predictably enough. Greece hung tough until the second wave of American All Stars entered the contest and blew the Greeks into the Mediterranean. Jason Kidd struggled again, picking up 3 fouls within a minute and a half of play. The game was also officiated poorly with a strong pro-Greece bias, particularly early on.

When Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh entered the game, the U.S. began to dominate. Greece could not handle America's ball pressure, committing as many turnovers in the first half as field goals scored. Greece also did not make a three until the game was out of reach. The U.S. had a few lapses, which led to easy Greek layups, but it was a side effect of a strategy to halt the opponents' three point attack. The plan worked.

Wade was in a zone on both ends of the floor. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant also played very well. On one play, Wade stole the ball, grabbed it as it was flying towards the sideline, flung it towards the basket, where Kobe caught it and threw it down. Defensively, Greece was frustrated. The U.S. guards sliced open the defense with awe-inspiring efficiency. On both sides, the U.S. forced Greece to play an NBA-style game and the European country was woefully unable to comply with any effectiveness. Besides Kidd, the only other negatives were a couple of defensive miscues by Dwight Howard and missed free throws. All in all, a great performance from the Americans.

Next up is Spain. While Spain might not know what will hit them on the court, they know what will off of it. The team posed for a magazine ad by stretching their eyes to mimic "slanty eyes." What's worse is that only Pau Gasol had even an inkling that it could be perceived as offensive. Apparently, the Spanish team is stuck in the 1850s. Racism in Spain is well documented, but when do we stop using cultural ignorance as an excuse and demand personal responsibility? Hopefully, the U.S. team will stick up for our Asian brothers and sisters and give Spain a beat down. And then blow them out in basketball.