BEIJING, August 24, 2008 -- Three years of commitment had come down to 40 minutes of basketball.

And on Sunday, the U.S. Men's Senior National Team needed all 40.

But in the end, the commitment, the sacrifice and the hard work paid off, and the Road to Redemption reached its golden destination.

In one of the best gold medal games ever played, the U.S. held off a spirited Spain squad 118-107 at the Wukesong Culture and Sports Center to reclaim Olympic gold and their spot atop the basketball world.

From the start, Spain made it clear that they weren't at their best in their 37-point, pool play loss to the U.S. last week. On Sunday, they went toe to toe with the U.S., trailing by as many as 14 midway through the second quarter, but fighting back and using a 7-0 run at the start of the fourth to close to within two.

"Both teams never gave up the entire game," Tayshaun Prince said.

Forty minutes of basketball had come down to eight. And that's the kind of situation that brings out the best in one Kobe Bean Bryant.

Bryant had struggled through the first three quarters, but showed why he's the reigning NBA MVP, scoring 13 of his 20 points and dishing out two of his six assists in the fourth.

It started on the possession after Rudy Fernandez cut the U.S. lead to 91-89 with 8:13 on the clock. Bryant got the ball on the right wing, drove the lane and hit a 12-foot runner off of his wrong foot. On the next U.S. possession, Bryant hit Deron Williams on the left wing for a three. And on the possession after that, Bryant drove and found Dwight Howard under the basket for a dunk. The two-point lead was back up to nine.

Still, Spain would not go down. And after another Fernandez three, Bryant hit one of his own. And a few minutes later, with the lead five and 3:10 on the clock, Bryant had the biggest play of the game: a four-point play on a three from the left wing, drawing Fernandez' fifth and final foul and putting the lead at nine again.

Again, Spain would not go down, cutting the U.S. lead back down to four with just over two minutes to go. LeBron James then found Dwyane Wade for a huge three from the left wing. And after a Juan Carlos Navarro free throw, Bryant finally put the game away with another runner in the lane.

Wade led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting, scoring 21 in the first half. And the U.S. needed all 21, because Bryant and James were both hit with two fouls early on. Spain led 22-17 midway through the first quarter, but Wade led the U.S. on a 21-9 run to close the period and go up eight.

Wade also sparked a 10-2 run in the second that gave the U.S. their largest lead, 58-44. But Fernandez helped Spain get it back under single digits by halftime. At the break, the two teams had combined for 130 points, shooting a ridiculous 63 percent from the field.

The scoring pace slowed a bit in the second half, but the U.S. was not getting the amount of stops or turnovers that they were used to, and they never built a safe lead until the closing moments. But led by Bryant, they hit several big shots, showing fortitude and toughness in the face of adversity.

And as the clock wound down in Beijing, the U.S. players' faces showed how much this gold medal meant. It was the end of a three-year journey. And it was completely fulfilling.

"It's an unbelievable feeling to win a gold medal for your country," Bryant said afterward. "I can't begin to describe to you the feeling that we all feel right now. It's unbelievable."

The journey began in 2006, after the U.S. fell short at the 2002 World Championships and 2004 Olympics. The U.S. had dominated when NBA players were first allowed to compete in international competition in 1992, showing the world that it had some catching up to do. But slowly, the world did catch up. And after Athens, the feeling was that the U.S. just wasn't made for international competition any more.

But Jerry Colangelo wasn't so sure. Had the world really caught up, or had the U.S. just not been at their best? Colangelo wanted to find out, so he changed the way the U.S. approached international competition.

Rather than throw a different team together every summer with little time to prepare, Colangelo wanted continuity in his roster. So, with the ultimate goal being gold at these Olympics, he asked for a three-year commitment from his players and staff. And he got it.

In 2006, with the program in its infancy, the U.S. fell short at the World Championships, losing to Greece in the semifinals. But the seeds had been planted.

In 2007, against a not-so great field at the FIBA Americas tournament, they cruised to a gold medal and a spot in the 2008 Olympics, which would be the ultimate test. With the way international basketball had grown over the last 16 years, this was the most competitive field ever.

But the U.S. Team's first seven games were anything but competitive. They cruised to the gold medal game, winning by an average of 30.3 points and never by less than 20.

And they did it the right way. They played hard. They played defense. They respected their competition.

Most important, this was not just a group of All-Stars wearing the same uniform. This was a team. They played together.

"With all the great players and the egos," Jason Kidd, now 46-0 in international competition, said, "we became one ego, a team ego. And that growth was a beautiful thing to see."

And coming coming into Sunday's action, it looked like the world has some catching up to do again.

But Spain, playing without starting point guard, Jose Calderon, showed that they can play at the same level as the U.S. Through more than 30 minutes, they match the Americans shot for shot.

"It was at a point where we were about to pull away, and something happens that we couldn't pull away," James said. "The intensity was unbelievable.

"It was a real test to see what we're all about," Chris Paul added.

But when it came down to it, this U.S. Team had come too far, worked too hard and waited too long for this moment to let it slip out of their hands. Those last few minutes were four years in the making.

"We were at America's lowest point in '04," Carmelo Anthony, one of four players who were in Athens, said, "and to be sitting here in front of you guys tonight and be on top of the world, I think we did a hell of a job of putting American basketball back where it's supposed to be."

In the end, redemption would not be denied.
by John Schuhmann

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I wouldn't say they caught up but rather three out of the four greatest NBA players of all time stopped playing in the Olympics after '92.