London Olympics: An emotional Kobe Bryant leads the Americans to basketball gold

LONDON — And so it came to pass that the last Dream Team nearly sleep-walked its way to a surprise encounter with a silver medal, before awakening and making Kobe Bryant blubber like … well, like a winning Olympian.

When it was over, the coolest athlete on earth — the most poised under pressure, the most serene at the moment of truth — had trouble keeping it together, as he pondered the medallion hanging on his chest and the gratitude hanging in his heart.

He had played the role of the upright American envoy all week, posing with countless athletes from countries whose names he couldn’t even pronounce, promoting their games, showing up at their events, expressing sincere interest in their lives and ambitions. And when you’re just a few days shy of 34 and have accomplished everything you ever set out to do, this is an enriching escapade.

But now this was a time for just him and his teammates, those guys for whom he sacrificed shots and minutes on the way to a 107-100 triumph over Spain in the gold medal game, and he was trying to put into words what these last two weeks meant to him.

Of course, there was also some indiscretion with an Aussie swimmer, which the tabloids feasted on for a few days, but this had little to do with that.

“It’s very emotional,” Bryant said, after his 17-point game. “You kind of think back on the journey, being here for your last gold medal, wearing USA on your chest, and it’s very emotional.

“You realize how fleeting time is, and it brings me great joy to be standing here at this point of my career. It will be exciting to look back at all the memories, this being one of them.”

The game itself wasn’t much to remember, other than the fact both Gasol brothers played well for Spain, though it was the speed and quick triggers of Juan-Carlos Navarro and Sergio Rodriguez that gave the United States the most trouble.

A 19-9 run in the fourth period was required to put this one away, with Chris Paul and LeBron James making the plays that most mattered. It was an 85-84 game when CP hit a three from the top, and — off a missed layup from Felipe Reyes at the other end — a CP blow-by past Rodriguez gave the United States six points of breathing space.

Spain was very stubborn, and the Gasols were a handful: Pau had 24 points, eight boards, and seven assists; brother Marc had 17 points in only 17 minutes because of foul trouble.

“We knew it was gonna be a tough game — Spain is very, very physical,” Carmelo Anthony said. “And it comes down to making plays. And when you have a group of guys who are used to making plays — as we have on this team — you never know who’s going to make ’em.”

The only thing that mattered was that Spain didn’t have those guys. Or not as many, anyway.

As the clock slipped under three minutes, Pau Gasol failed to make two plays that Spain had to have. The first was a 5-foot turnaround, which James converted into a driving slam to make it a 99-91 cushion at 2:44. The second was a turnover (a moving screen that buried CP) with 1:52 left, right after James splashed a 3 over Marc Gasol to make it a 102-93 game.

And that was that.

Yes, it might have turned out differently if Marc Gasol didn’t pick up his third and fourth fouls in the second period, which he had every right to complain about. “But I think it would be disrespectful to basketball to talk about referees right now,” the younger Gasol said. “They always do the best job they can, and you have too many kids at home follow us to get on the referee.”

Nice.

So all that remained was the coronation, and speculation about what comes next.

This, in fact, could be a permanent exit for most of them, if a plan to adopt the international soccer model (with players 23 and younger, for the most part) goes through. FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann said he doesn’t see it happening in time for 2016, though David Stern seems to favor it.

And Jerry Colangelo, architect of Team USA, doesn’t want to think about it: “The best eight years of my life,” Colangelo called last two Olympics, essentially an assembly line of raw meat for the American abattoir. “A lot of guys feel the same way. But I’m not a pessimist. I’m an optimist about the future.”

It’s easy to be optimistic when you have 12 All-Stars on your team.

Regardless of how the age debate shapes the next roster, this team will have a new head coach, as Mike Krzyzewski will step down. He was doused with water by James after it was over, and his homily afterward was heartfelt: “We’re proud of the gold medal, very appreciative of the support we got here, and it’s a heck of a thing,” Coach K said.
And, of course, it could be the last go-round for guys like James, Anthony — who now have two gold medals — and Bryant.

It’s a fair debate about whether the roster should continue to be an All-Stars-only club, giving a series of absurdly one-sided exhibitions and dressing it up as Olympic competition. You know how the NBA owners feel about it. One could also argue that of all the London events over the last fortnight — 302 in all, across 26 different sports — this was by far the most anti-climactic.

But these are still among the greatest athletes in the world, and for that reason alone, you can be grateful that they got to demonstrate this to a global audience.

One guy is, anyway.

And he happens to play this game more beautifully than anyone else.

“The city has done a fantastic job, the venues were incredible, support was incredible, and the athletes did a fantastic job,” Bryant said. “This is it for me. I feel very fortunate to go to the Olympics twice. It was nice to come here in the twilight of my career.”