After struggling early, Team USA's 3s began to fall and all of the holes in the Argentineans' sieve-like zone were fully exploited.The Americans were also able to dismantle the zone by positioning LBJ at the high-post, then feeding him the ball and letting him drive or pass.Their failsafe anti-zone maneuver, however, was to have Jason Kidd make a wing pass from up-top, execute a dive cut, fade to a corner (thereby taking a baseline defender with him), then receiving a pass, and finding Dwight Howard open under the bucket with a defender on his back.They also took full advantage of the floor-bound defense of Fabricio Oberto and Luis Scola by attacking the rim and swarming the offensive glass.After getting chewed out by Coach K during the halftime break, the Americans regained their composure and took control of the game.In the fourth quarter, after Nocioni got nailed with a technical foul and Argentina's subs were running on empty, Team USA demonstrated an admirable killer instinct.Biggest surprise performance: Kobe playing lock-down defense against Carlos Delfino.
Most disappointing performance: Melo's being unable to control his temper on two occasions when he was involved in bone-on-bone confrontations in the paint. Blame the myopic refs for not T-ing him.
Conclusion: Playing its worst game of the tournament, albeit against a severely wounded opponent, the U.S. still won by 20.
Outlook: Undoubtedly, Coach K and his staff will make sure the guys understand that they mustn't take anything for granted and that it's imperative to keep their chops up for 40 minutes. That's why the gold medal game will be even more of a blowout than the initial encounter between the U.S. and Spain.
