Redeems need clean play for a shiny gold (USA Basketball)

Only one more game and there won’t be any redeem left in this team.

Right after Spain barely outlasted Lithuania 91-86 to advance to the gold medal game, the United States exploded out of the gate against Argentina, taking a 19-point lead after one quarter.

They would more or less hold this margin for the rest of the game, but what happened in the next three quarters is evidence that the U.S. can ill-afford to rest on its laurels or come out tired or under-prepared against the seemingly overmatched Spaniards on Sunday.

Many of the problems that have plagued the team in Beijing, if you can say they’ve been plagued by anything, were out in full force on Friday.

After the first quarter’s onslaught, which included remarkably few turnovers and some timely three point shooting, the Redeems got sloppy; once again missing a barrage of three pointers while allowing Argentina to shoot them at will.

They committed silly fouls, had numerous lapses on defense and even committed a high amount of turnovers.

Their smallest halftime lead of the tournament, nine, could have been even smaller if not for a terrible offensive possession by Carlos Delfino and an inane foul on a three pointer by Juan Gutierrez in the quarter’s last seconds.

On the back of a 16-3 run, the Argentineans outscored the U.S. 29-19 in the second, even without team heart and soul Manu Ginobili.

The Redeems built up the margin again in the second half, but never again pulled away like they did in the first quarter.

The Argentinean zone changed the game’s entire complexion, goading the Redeems into attempting many hopeless threes and bad passes on fast breaks.

If Argentina had not lost Ginobili and had gone to the zone even earlier, perhaps in the middle of the U.S.’s first quarter run, the outcome could have been decidedly different.

Even without Ginobili or an early zone, Argentina still found itself in the game midway through the third quarter until their own mental lapses, notably Andres Nocioni’s disastrous technical foul at the six minute mark (giving Carmelo Anthony a four point play and an 18-point lead for the U.S.), did them in.

So despite the U.S. having already overwhelmed Spain once, Friday’s botched execution and oftentimes lazy play have given Coach K and company plenty to work on going into the gold medal match.

The odds of another blowout are slim, and it is evident that team U.S.A. has to prepare for Sunday as if it were game seven of the NBA finals.

Everything that has happened so far in these Olympics has re-enforced that these international games are no longer won before the teams even take the floor like they were in 1992.

To win on Sunday, the U.S. will have to put together its most complete game yet.

Staying home and not being overly aggressive on defense, not forcing the fast break and not settling for jumpers will be paramount.

The Redeems will never be the Dreams, but as long as they execute the simple things on Sunday, they will be gold medal winners.

–Patrick Daugherty, RED Editorial Staff.