I was very tired last night when I switched on the USA-Spain gold medal basketball game ten minutes late to find Kobe and Lebron already on the bench in foul trouble. Somehow I had sensed it.  This wasn’t going to be easy.  Spain was filled with good players playing loosey-goosey out of their minds.  They had nothing to lose, after all.  And the USA was weak in the paint – no real enforcers to stop the Spanish guards. (Andrew Bynum next time?)  Pau Gasol was doing much better against the USA bigs than he ever did against the Celts… dammit. Sure enough, fourth quarter Los Espanoles were within four and I was wide-awake.

But then it was just like a Laker game.  Forget Lebron. Forget Jason Kidd and his years of experience.  Bring on the Mamba ^[1] – the best crunch player since Jordan.  Pretty soon things were in hand.  It was like being at Staples against the Spurs.

More here ^[2], including Kidd calling Kobe “best on the planet.”