Team USA buried defending Olympic Champion and #2 team in the world Argentina 118-81 Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas to win the Gold Medal of the FIBA Tournament of the Americas. #1 ranked USA now qualifies for the 2008 Olympics in China where they will look to improve upon their disappointing Bronze medal finish at the 2004 Olympics. Team USA won by an everage margin of 40 points per game and completely dominated this tournament and were never tested. Argentina was missing some key players, so it is difficult to assess how good this USA team really is. Comparisons to the original 1992 Dream Team that took gold in Barcelona and featured the greatest collection of players ever assembled (Jordan, Bird, Magic, Barkley, Ewing, Malone, Mullin, Robinson, Stockton, Drexler, etc..) have begun. I was on hand to witness this game and can tell you that this current team is awesome. Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Jason Kidd, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire and Michael Redd represent the core of this team. They play tenacious defense and employ a truly devastating transition game. They have a tremendous coaching staff in Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) and assistants Mike D'Antoni (Phoenix Suns), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) and Nate McMillan (Portland Trailblazers). Dwyane Wade will almost certainly be added to this roster for the Olympics. Other possible additions include Elton Brand, Gilbert Arenas, Carlos Boozer, Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Shane Battier, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson, Bruce Bowen, Kirk Hinrich, Chris Bosh and Chris Paul. They will face much tougher teams at the Olympics including a full strength Argentina team along with Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Germany and Serbia among others. Regardless of who is added or removed, as long as they keep the current core intact, this team will be the favorite to take home the Olympic Gold next summer. Once they accomplish that, the comparisons to the original Dream Team will be more valid.
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