Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

The men's basketball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, began on 10 August and ended on 24 August, when the United States defeated Spain 118–107 for the gold medal. All games were held at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium.The United States, nicknamed the "Redeem Team", defeated Spain in the gold medal game, finishing the tournament undefeated and winning the gold medal for the first time since 2000, while Argentina, the defending Olympic champions who lost to the U.S. in the semifinals, won the bronze medal.

Qualification

Country Qualified as Date of qualification Previous appearances FIBA World Rankingafter EuroBasket Women 2007 Olympics host July 13, 20016 (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004) 11 World champion September 3, 200610 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004) 3 Asian champion August 5, 20071 (1948) 45 Oceanian champion August 22, 200711 (1956, 1964, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004) 9 African champion August 25, 20074 (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004) 14 Americas runner-up September 1, 20074 (1948, 1952, 1996, 2004) 1 Americas champion September 1, 200715 (1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004) 2 European champion September 15, 2007 13 (1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000) 14 European third placeThe European Championships runner-up, Spain, qualified separately as World Champions. September 16, 20074 (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004) 5 Wildcard qualifier July 19, 2008 2 (1992, 1996) 20 Wildcard qualifier July 19, 2008 3 (1952, 1996, 2004) 6 Wildcard qualifier July 20, 2008 4 (1936, 1972, 1984, 1992) 9

Format Twelve teams are split into 2 preliminary round groups of 6 teams each. The top 4 teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage. Fifth-placed teams from each group are ranked 9th–10th by basis of their records. Sixth-placed teams from each group are ranked 11th–12th by basis of their records. In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1. The eliminated teams at the quarterfinals are ranked 5th–8th by basis of their preliminary round records The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals as follows: A1/B4 vs. A3/B2 and A2/B3 vs. A4/B1. The winning teams from the semifinals play for the gold medal. The losing teams play for the bronze.

Ties are broken via the following the criteria, with the first option used first, all the way down to the last option: Head to head results Goal average (not the goal difference) between the tied teams Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group

All times are local Beijing Time (UTC+8).

Squads

Preliminary round All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Group A

Group B

Knockout round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Team details F 4 Pau Gasol PG 6 Ricky Rubio G 7 Juan C. Navarro F 9 Felipe Reyes SF 10 Carlos Jiménez (c) G 5 Rudy Fernández PG 11 Raül López SG 12 Berni Rodríguez C 13 Marc Gasol SF 14 Álex Mumbrú PF 15 Jorge GarbajosaDid not play: -->Head Coach: Aíto García Reneses G 5 Jason Kidd F 6 LeBron James G 10 Kobe Bryant (c) C 11 Dwight Howard F 15 Carmelo Anthony F 4 Carlos Boozer G 7 Deron Williams G 8 Michael Redd G 9 Dwyane Wade F 12 Chris Bosh G 13 Chris Paul F 14 Tayshaun PrinceDid not play: -->Head Coach: Mike Krzyzewski The Americans got off to a slow start with the Spaniards hitting seven of their first nine shots; if not for a 10–0 run by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, the Americans would have trailed in the first quarter. With the USA leading by 14, Spain chipped away at the lead during the second quarter to cut the deficit to eight points.

The teams traded baskets in the third quarter, with Spain cutting the deficit further to seven. A three-point field goal by Rudy Fernández cut the lead into two, the smallest deficit with 8:13 left in the fourth. Kobe Bryant and Wade extended the lead with three-pointers to 103–92 but Spain had a final push, capped with another three-pointer from Carlos Jiménez to reduce the lead to 108–104. In the final two minutes a three-pointer by Dwyane Wade and a Kobe Bryant field goal extended the lead back to 9. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball games ever played.

Awards 2008 Olympic Basketball Champions United States Thirteenth title

Statistical leaders Top ten in points, rebounds and assists, and top 5 in steals and blocks.

Points Name PPG Pau Gasol 20.0 Yao Ming 19.0 Luis Scola 18.9 Manu Ginóbili 17.7 JR Holden 17.6 Samad Nikkhah Bahrami 17.2 Dirk Nowitzki 17.0 Hamed Haddadi 16.6 Dwyane Wade 16.1 Andrei Kirilenko 15.8

Rebounds Name RPG Hamed Haddadi 11.2 Dirk Nowitzki 8.4 Yao Ming 8.2 Yi Jianlian 7.5 Pau Gasol 7.0 Antonis Fotsis 6.7 Luis Scola 6.6 Viktor Khriapa 6.5 Andrei Kirilenko 6.4 Andrés Nocioni 6.3

Assists Name APG Šarūnas Jasikevičius 5.3 Jon Robert Holden 4.8 Pablo Prigioni 4.6 Chris Paul 4.1 Manu Ginóbili 3.9 LeBron James 3.8 Andrei Kirilenko 3.4 Ricky Rubio 3.2 C.J. Bruton 3.0 Vasileios Spanoulis 3.0

Steals Name SPG Pablo Prigioni 2.6 Andrei Kirilenko 2.6 LeBron James 2.4 Chris Paul 2.3 Dwyane Wade 2.3

Blocks Name BPG Hamed Haddadi 2.6 Andrei Kirilenko 2.2 Kšyštof Lavrinovič 1.5 Yao Ming 1.5 Pau Gasol 1.1

Game highs Department Name Total OpponentPoints Luis Scola 37 Rebounds Dirk Nowitzki 17 Assists Pablo Prigioni 10 Steals Andrei Kirilenko Dwyane Wade 6 Blocks Hamed Haddadi Kšyštof Lavrinovič Yao Ming 4 Field goal percentage Ioannis Bouroussis 100% (9/9) 3-point field goal percentage Viktor Khriapa Dirk Nowitzki 100% (6/6) Free throw percentage Carmelo Anthony 100% (13/13) Turnovers Carlos Morais 10

Final standings

Rankings are determined by: 1st–4th Results of gold and bronze medal games. 5th–8th: Win–loss record in the preliminary round group Standings in the preliminary round group (i.e. Group A's #3 is ranked higher than Group B's #4.) Goal average in the preliminary round group 9th–10th and 11th–12th: 5th placers in the preliminary round groups are classified 9th–10th; 6th placers classified *11th–12th Win–loss record in the preliminary round group Goal average in the preliminary round group Rank Team Pld W L PF PA PD Standing GAvg New rank 8 8 0 850 627 +223 2 8 6 2 688 632 +56 3 8 6 2 673 615 +58 1 4th 8 5 3 680 646 +34 6Eliminated at the quarterfinals 5th 6 3 3 493 455 +38 B-3rd 1.117 4 6th 6 3 3 458 452 +6 A-3rd 1.050 18 7th 6 3 3 542 521 +21 A-4th 9 8th 6 2 4 434 494 −60 10Preliminary round 5th placers 9th 5 1 4 387 406 −19 – 0.953 15 10th 5 1 4 330 390 −60 – 0.846 7Preliminary round 6th placers 11th 5 0 5 323 464 −141 – 0.696 23 12th 5 0 5 321 477 −156 – 0.673 12

See also Women's Tournament

References

External links Men's tournament official website