The Lakers two Olympians in 2012 are both having decent success as individuals in the Olympics, but it is all about team success. Luckily for Kobe and Pau their teams are two of the best in the world. Kobe and Team USA are now undefeated after a completely lob-sided 83 point win against Nigeria and a mere 5 point win against Lithuania. The Lithuania game was a little nerve racking as Team USA seemed to have been outplayed for most of the game, but somehow found a way to win.
Pau and the Spanish National Team were going along well in their first two games before a near loss against host nation Great Britain and then a loss to Russia today. Spain should still make it to the quarterfinal round, but they need to start playing a little better than they have been playing up to this point. Pau needs to step his game up a little and lead this team like all Laker fans know he is capable of doing.
Both Lakers in the Olympics are doing alright individually. Kobe was averaging 10 points a game through the first 3 games and shooting over 50 percent. Pau is averaging nearly 20 points and 6 rebounds a game. Pau of course is being counted on to do a lot more than Kobe is at this point. Kobe is there more for clutch moments in the game and to make sure that the whole team is working hard and such. Pau is the leader of that team and he needs to average over 20 points and be close to 10 rebounds a game if Spain wants to win a Gold medal
It is obvious that Team USA is the team to beat here. If they don't win it would be a major upset. They have more talent than any other team and even if they don't have a lot of size in the post that shouldn't hurt them. Spain is probably the second best team in the tournament. Even with their loss to Russia, I don't expect them to be anywhere but in the final against the US.
These games are going to start getting more interesting from this point on. I am looking forward to the USA-Argentina game set for Monday. Argentina has a team that could pose problems for the US. We shall see I guess. Whatever the case, be sure to keep up with all the happenings during the Olympic basketball tournament on ESPN.com or on the Olympic Basketball homepage.
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