All eyes in the U.S. were on Kevin Durant at the 2012 Summer Olympics on July 29. The Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star scored a game-high 22 points to lead Team USA to a big win over France. However, another Thunder player was also playing at a high level, as Serge Ibaka helped lead Spain to a win over China.
Ibaka, the Thunder’s power forward and the NBA’s back-to-back blocking champion, scored 17 points with five rebounds and three blocks in the Spain victory. While no member of Team USA outside of Durant scored over 15 points, Spain put up a more balanced effort in their 97-81 win.
Pau Gasol, the undisputed leader for Spain, added 21 points and 11 rebounds with a nice double-double. However, it was China’s Yi Jianlian, a Dallas Mavericks player, who led the game with 30 points and 12 rebounds in the losing effort. Also, Wang Zhizhi, who at one time was the first Chinese player to play in the NBA, added 15 points for China.
China pushed Spain in the game. Spain took a 53-41 first half lead but China roared back in the third quarter to make it 69-60 heading into the final period. However, after a 14-7 run to start the fourth, Spain never looked back.
Spain won the silver medal in the Beijing Games, and with the early France loss to Team USA, looks to compete once again for the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Spain has one advantage over Team USA in their size. Pau Gasol is 7-0, his brother Marc Gasol is 7-1 and Ibaka is 6-10.
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