USA Wins 119 Spain 82

Song: Fort Minor Remember The Name

Spain tried everything. Pretty much none of it worked.

The zone? Team USA shot over it, drove the baseline against it and picked it apart.

The pick-and-roll? Spain tried it a lot early, and you know how many points its best player, Pau Gasol, had in the first 12 ½ minutes against it? Zero.

The press? Let’s put it this way: If another team tries to use the full-court press against Team USA, it might as well just walk off the court and forfeit. Open up the court for the Americans, like the Greeks did two nights earlier and like the Spanish foolishly tried to in this one, and they’ll crush you.

What made Saturday’s 119-82 throttling of Spain so impressive was the way the Americans did everything so extraordinarily well. They’re getting better each game, they’re improving their few weak areas and the only thing that’s scary about this 37-point beatdown is the notion that they might have peaked.

It’s up to them to prove that they haven’t, because the plane ride home is still more than a week away. But if they’re going to keep bringing it like they brought it against the reigning world champions, there’s no way they’re going to lose.

“Twenty-eight turnovers is just a staggering number,” said Gasol, whose team’s field goal total matched its turnover total.

And another staggering number from the box score: The fast-break points were listed as 32-0.

“First time I’ve ever seen that happen,” Carmelo Anthony said.

There was another astonishing number at halftime. When the U.S. had already opened a 16-point lead despite Spain shooting 58 percent from the field, the Americans had already forced 17 turnovers, and all 10 players Spain had used committed at least one.

“The only place Spain is beating us tonight is at the ashtray,” NBA and USA Basketball official Brian McIntyre said outside the media entrance, where Spain’s nicotine addicts had the American media outnumbered something like 15-2.

It never got close in the second half, and Jason Kidd even managed to attempt his first shot of the Olympics, a lefty layup off a feed from LeBron James on a 2-on-1 break after Dwight Howard had rejected Marc Gasol’s shot at the other end.

“I thought he was going to give it back to me, because J never shoots the ball,” James said. “Couldn’t believe he laid the ball up. I thought he was going to give it back to me off the backboard.”

The victory clinched first place in Pool B for the Americans, who complete opening round play against Germany on Monday, then they likely face Australia in the quarterfinals, then Argentina or Lithuania in the semifinals.