In the end, the United States men's basketball team wouldn't be denied the gold medal. But Pau Gasol and Spain's national team made sure that the traveling troupe of NBA All-Stars with USA emblazoned across its jerseys had to sweat it out until the very, very end.
In a taut, physical affair that evoked thethriller played between these two teams in 2008, USA basketball held off Spain, 107-100, to capture the gold medal at theLondon 2012 Olympics.


With Spain having closed within six points deep into the fourth quarter, LeBron James reeled off five straight points on a three-point shot and a driving right-handed slam dunk to propel the U.S. to victory and its second straight gold medal.
"This is all about USA. It's not about me," James told Craig Sager of NBC shortly after the final buzzer. "It's about the three letters on our chest."
During the first half of the gold medal game, it seemed like the post-game talk would be all about Spanish guard Juan-Carlos Navarro, who lit up the scoreboard and the United States perimeter defense with 19 points before the intermission on 4-for-6 shooting from behind the three-point line. Despite Navarro's unexpected three-point barrage, the United States held a slim 59-58 lead, thanks largely to the 17 points poured in by Kevin Durant over those first two quarters.
In the third quarter, Pau Gasol exploited the one known weakness of the U.S. team: lack of interior size and front court depth. With his younger brother tethered to the Spain bench with four fouls, the Los Angeles Lakers' star dominated, flashing his deft touch on his silky, sweeping shot and exploiting his size advantage under the rim. The32-year-old Spaniard scored his team's first 15 points after halftime, single-handedlystaking Spain to a 71-70 lead when he completed an old-fashioned three-point play with just more than five minutes remaining in the quarter.
"We were close," Pau said after accepting his silver medal. "But you almost have to play the perfect game to beat them."