The 2024 Paris Olympics featured one of the best teams ever assembled by the United States to capture their 17th gold medal in the competition’s history. In their journey to the gold medal, Serbia and France pushed them to their limits and the mighty Team USA appeared on the brink of elimination at certain moments in the tournament.
Advertisement
In the past few years, however, that wasn’t the case. In the 2012 London Olympics, the Americans won gold by an average victory margin of 32.1 points. However, one team gave them a run for their money in the gold medal game, the Spanish National team.
Former member of that Spanish team, Serge Ibaka, believes that his 2012 side can hold their own against the 2024 United States roster.
During Ibaka’s appearance on Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s ‘Thanalysis Show’, he was asked about the Spain roster’s chances against the 2024 USA team, which has been named ‘The Avengers’ by LeBron James. The former NBA star exuded confidence when he said,
“Yes, that team… [can beat Team USA], you saw the final [of 2012 Olympics]? We were close. Remember that year, that Olympics in London, they had [Kobe Bryant], they had Russell Westbrook, they had Kevin Durant, [Dwight Howard], all those guys were in their primes.”
“The final we played against them it was a close one. It wasn’t easy like you see how they were beating everybody else.”
The 2019 NBA champion wasn’t lying about Spain’s ability to keep up with the dominant Americans. Spain and USA shared a competitive rivalry during this time. The 2012 London Olympics gold medal game was a rematch of the 2008 Olympics Final, in which the USA Redeem Team beat Spain 118-107.
Spain maintained continuity in their roster, but added a few new faces to maintain the competitive edge. The roster featured amazing international players like: Pau and Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro, Sergio Llull, Sergio Rodriguez, Victor Sada, Rafa Martinez, Felipe Reyes, Victor Claver, and Fernando San Emeterio.
Ibaka mentioned how the USA team featured a star-studded cast of legendary players, who were all in their prime. The team included: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Andre Iguodala, James Harden, Tyson Chandler, and Anthony Davis.
In the gold medal game, the Spanish team gave the Americans a run for their money. As a result, it took Kevin Durant finishing with the first 30-point performance in an Olympic final in US history, to lead his country to the 107-100 victory.
Ibaka’s claim that the 2012 Spanish team can beat the modern USA roster isn’t far-fetched. That Spain roster has all the components to thrive in modern basketball.
2012 Spain has a competitive chance against the 2024 USA team
Unlike the USA teams from the past, the 2024 Olympic roster didn’t dominate the entire competition in the manner we have seen the 2012 team do. Their semifinal and final matches went down to the wire, requiring legendary performances from Stephen Curry for them to prevail.
However, that could be ascribed to growing competition in other countries around the world.
There were a lot of superstars in the 2024 USA roster as well. The players that made the national team were: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Tyrese Haliburton.
However, the key difference was that the team’s best three players, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry, were all past the age of 35 during the tournament. They weren’t in their absolute prime like Kobe, LeBron, and KD were in 2012.
However, USA utilized their size advantage with their trio of big men, Embiid, Davis and Adebayo, who all have the capability to shoot from the three-point range. Additionally, they’re mobile enough to attack sloppy closeouts to finish at the basket.
However, Spain won’t be vulnerable to those schemes. The Gasol brothers along with Ibaka were a defensive force. At the time, Ibaka served as a tremendous rim protector averaging 1.8 blocks per game. Ahead of the gold medal game against the USA, Spain held their opponents to merely 73.1 points per game.
At the time, Pau was one of the best players in the tournament. Despite having prime Dwight Howard and reigning 2012 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Tyson Chandler, Team USA couldn’t stop him.
During the 2012 Olympics, Gasol averaged 20.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game on an efficient 60.6% shooting from the field.
The issue that remains is playmaking, where the USA team undoubtedly has Spain beat. Rudy Fernandez was an exceptional player, but he wouldn’t be able to contain the likes of Stephen Curry. The Warriors star averaged a team-best 14.8 points per game in 23.3 minutes in the Olympics.
On the other hand, in 2012, Spain didn’t have an answer for LeBron, and that problem would remain in 2024 as well. In the gold medal match in London, James drained a dunk and a three-pointer with under two minutes to go. The dagger set of baskets gave the Americans a nine-point lead, which they didn’t concede.
Additionally, Team USA has the privilege of Durant being their sixth man. The dynamic scorer would cause matchup nightmares for Spain in a similar fashion to what he did during the matchup in 2012.
However, Spain’s biggest asset will be their cohesive basketball. If they could utilize the loose nature of Team USA’s tandem, they might have a shot in this hypothetical matchup.
However, it’s a false premise to judge 2024 Team USA’s capabilities based on their victory margins. International teams have improved significantly since the 2012 Olympics, and teams like France, Canada and Serbia have multiple All-Star level NBA players on their rosters.
If one had to make a judgement based on the information we have, Team USA will probably reign supreme because of the sheer firepower they have at every department. But Spain will certainly not make it easy for them.
