U.S. men bring back basketball gold medal

BEIJING -- The days of Dream Team dominance are likely gone forever, but in the new world basketball order the United States once again resides on top.After a disastrous 2004 that totally reshuffled how international basketball is done in the U.S., the Americans here set things right with a bruising 118-107 victory over Spain in the championship game Sunday."We were down at America's lowest point in 2004," said Carmelo Anthony, one of four players on the present U.S. team who also played in Athens. "Tonight I think we did a hell of a job at putting America back where it's supposed to be - on top of the world."Reconstruction began after the debacle at Athens, where the U.S. lost three times and settled for a bronze medal. It became obvious that throwing together a team of NBA stars and sub-stars wasn't going to get it done against the world anymore."At 2004 we were asked if we wanted to make a commitment to this," LeBron James said. "To do something we have never done before -- win a gold medal."USA Basketball put Jerry Colangelo in charge of rebuilding the program. A three-year commitment would be required from players who were screened for their sincerity about playing before they were selected. The hiring of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, a noted teacher of the game, made it clear that this U.S. team would be going back to school - summer school when the NBA season was out of session.On Sunday, Coach K's students all stood on top of the medal stand, biting into gold medals to make sure they were real."It has been the greatest experience of our life," said Krzyzewski, who has had more than a few great moments. "All of these guys committed to Jerry three years ago. We said we are going to have collective egos, but we wanted you to bring all of your egos because that's how you get better. Our coaching staff has not had one second of a problem with our team."The squad brought back memories of the Dream Team in days leading up to the championship game. The smallest margin of victory was 20 points against Argentina in the semifinals. But, they knew Spain with the 7-foot Gasols, Pau and Marc, would be different."We knew we faced an incredible team coming in," said Kobe Bryant. "Spain was going to be a big problem. They showed why they were world champions."Though the U.S. led through most of the game, the advantage was never much and with 8:13 left in the fourth quarter the Americans were up only 91-89.It's at such times that it's fortunate to have Bryant on your side, an option not available on the 2004 team. He piled in 13 points from there on to quell the final threat.Bryant finished with 20 points and six assists. Dwyane Wade led the United States with 26 points."We had a game plan and they countered everything we tried," James said. "Every possession counted. It will probably go down in history as one of the greatest Olympics games ever."A game, this time, the U.S. won."If it wasn't for the determination and the will power we had we would not have gotten this win," James said. "The biggest thing is that U.S. is back on top again.""What you saw today was a team," said Bryant. "Everybody wants to talk about NBA players being selfish, being arrogant, being individuals. What you saw today was a team that bonded, facing adversity together and came out with a big win." (Contact Steve Ahillen of The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee at ahillens(at)knoxnews.com.)