http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/olympics/Ginobili_injured_as_USA_romps_by_Argentina.html


By Fran Blinebury - Hearst Olympic Bureau BEIJING — On their way to re-conquering the entire basketball world, Team USA left an injured warrior in its dust.

With their 101-81 whipping of Argentina on Friday, the Americans avenged their loss to the defending gold medalists from 2004, but Spurs guard Manu Ginobili became an unintended victim of that mission.

Argentina, which will play Lithuania for the bronze medal, played most of the game without Ginobili, who re-injured the same ankle that slowed him so badly in the Western Conference finals.

The U.S. was already ahead by 10 points when Ginobili, who came in leading the tournament with 20.3 points per game, went down in a play away from the ball with 3:49 remaining in the first quarter.

He sat on the floor for several minutes before trainers came out to check on him. Then he limped to the bench, took off his left sneaker and held his ankle.

"It hurt when he ran," said Argentina team doctor Diego Grippo. "Maybe someone stepped on him, but he was not hurt jumping."

Ginobili went to the locker room after the quarter and did not return.

“It’s hard,” Rockets power forward Luis Scola of Argentina said of Ginobili’s injury. “You want to play, you want to win, all of a sudden you find out all of the hard work you did is going into the trash.”

The U.S. has whipped teams from seven countries and five different continents in a steely-eyed, cold-blooded march back to the pre-eminence.
All that's left now to make it official is a rematch in the gold medal game on Sunday with Spain, a team the U.S. spanked by 37 points just a week ago in the opening round.

"Can anybody beat them? I don't think so," said Scola after toiling for 28 points and 11 rebounds in vain. "It's a lo-o-o-ng shot. I don't want to say anything too much, then Spain beats them and I look stupid.

"Nothing is impossible. But nobody did it. Until somebody does it … well, maybe it's not possible."

Spain did nothing for the plausibility of the upset by by falling in pool play to the U.S. 119-82 with the added bruise of 27 turnovers in the face of the U.S. pressure defense.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony were all members of the 2004 Olympic team in Athens that embarrassed itself with both its petulant conduct and its poor play in settling for the bronze medal. Now they are older, wiser and have vengeance in their veins.

Jason Kidd, the 35-year-old point guard, is the only one on the U.S. roster who has experience playing in a gold-medal game, having won at Sydney in 2000.

"It seems a lot longer than that," Kidd said. "Starting tonight, we realize that on Sunday we're playing for a gold medal. Guys are talking that it would be the highlight of your career. This is bigger than a championship.

"We gotta prepare the same way that we've done for the past three years and the past 30 days. Understand what our game plan is, execute our game plan and at the end, hopefully, we've got more points and then you can think about what you've accomplished. Right now, we won't celebrate because we haven't accomplished anything to this point. "

"It's a great honor to be a part of this team," Kidd said. "At 35, this is my last go-round. To say that I can play for a gold medal and play with this group of guys, it's unbelievable."

It is a group that has grown from a collection of NBA All-Stars into a real team that has outscored its opponents in the Olympics by an average margin of 30.3 points, outrebounded them by 7.3 and created havoc with its ferocious pressure defense.

The splendid skills of Kobe Bryant have sent the talent level through the roof. However, it is the three-year commitment by a core set of players, the continuity of having a national coaching staff and the bonds that come from living and playing together and developing a chemistry that has enabled Team USA to re-establish the American brand as the top of the line.

"We have really built something here over three years," said Wade. "We really know each other and we really respect each other, with all the trials and tribulations you can go through on the court.

"We've gotten better and gotten stronger just by spending time together to get to this point. For three years, it's been great for this team."

Many around the world thought it might not be an easy task for a roster of individual stars used to traveling in their own orbit to pull together under the umbrella of a team.

"You never would have thought you would need it," Wade said. "But playing on the 2004 team and playing against guys internationally, I see the difference in a team with guys playing together. How they know each other and how much of a big difference it is.

"We all know now to respect a team. You have to play together for a while to get to know each other. Even though we've got the best of the best, at the end of the day we've got great individuals and we've had to make ourselves into a great team. Now you're seeing it."