I think LeBron proved that he’s the best player on Team USA today against China. He seemed to do whatever he wanted offensively AND defensively. He had three ridiculous blocks and ended up with 18 points, 6 boards and 3 assists. But it’s not about who’s the best on this team as much as I’ll want to keep talking about it. As long as they win the gold everyone will be happy and I’m still saying they will.
But today’s game wasn’t even about Team USA. It was about China. It was incredibly inspiring to watch them play. Yao Ming, in many regards the face of these Olympics, opened the game with a 3-pointer and the thunderous reaction from the crowd was touching. China as a team played inspired basketball in the first half, keeping it close for the most part (though I think Team USA helped them out by being nervous to open the game. They kind of played down to the competition by committing some unforced turnovers and being too aggressive on defense and getting burned for it a few times, though that seems like a footprint of this team). Even after Team USA was up by 30 and Yao Ming had checked out, to see him so fired up on the bench and so happy for his teammates after every made basket just put a smile on face. A true ambassador for China who represents all that is good for his country and deserving of his status as a national hero, Yao knew his team wouldn’t be winning this game but still played his hardest and just enjoyed this time, the biggest 40 minutes of his life. A 31 point loss would not bring his spirits down because in the end, he was a winner as well.
