"It was something for us personally to say, 'Where do we measure up with the champions?" Kobe Bryant said. "And this was a big game for us."

And how did the U.S. measure up?

"Pretty damn well," Bryant said.

Kobe then embraced his wife and children for the cameras as soft piano music played in the background. Oh, wait. I don't think they're in Beijing. Too bad for Kobe, being away from his family that long. Are there any ski resorts in Beijing?

The men have one more game in pool play against Germany, which is now meaningless, and then they proceed to the medal round. If they win their next three after that, the Redeem Team will win the gold.

Brady: DOOD KAN U B-LEEV IT ??? WE COULD WIN GOLD N BSKTBALL!!!!111!!

Michael: YAH UR HUUPS TEEM IZ GUUD

Brady: YAH BRO SO WEN WE GUNNA GET 2GETHER?

Michael: WAT U MEAN?

Brady: WATEVR DOOD Y U JOCKIN ME???

Michael: HNG ON BRO I'M PLAYIN TETRIS OVR HERE

Brady: WELL HRRY UP

U.S. Men's Hoops Hammers Spain [SI.com]

Recent New Jersey Nets acquisition Yi Jianlian scored just nine for the hosts, while the newest Los Angeles Laker, Sun Yue scored eight, including two three pointers. Elsewhere in Group B preliminaries Spain dispatched of Greeks with ease behind 17 points from Rudy Fernandez and solid contributions from their stacked roster. The Germans were the other Group B winners on the second day of preliminary competition at the expense of an over-matched Angola side. Dirk Nowitzki and his neu annschaftskamerad Chris Kaman dominated the Angolans, going for 23 and 24 points respectively.

Whereas the results in Group B could have been easily predicted, Group A has proven to be a bit trickier. Denver's Linas Kleiza powered and shot his Lithuanian side past the favored Argentinians, much to the dismay of Manu Ginobli (19 points). Kleiza was his team's leading scorer with just 13 points, but he was perfect from the three point line, including the game winner with a couple of seconds left on the clock. Sarunas Jasikevicius paced the Lithuanians with 10 points and 8 assists.

Looks like The Mighty MJD won his bet. We glumly welcome you this morning with the news that Team USA lost to Greece 101-95 in the semifinals of the World Basketball Championships.

The Americans struggled with — go figure — their 3-point and free throw shooting, and Greece — which has no players in the NBA — did not. It's not the Olympics disaster, of course ... but it's not a particularly pleasant morning in the life of Mike Krzyzewski. Which we guess isn't too bad.

The U.S. will play the loser of Spain-Argentina in the bronze medal game. We're sure they'll be fired up for that one.

USA Vs. Greece: The Live Blog [The Basketball Jones]

It was the first scare the U.S. has had in training for the World Championships, which begin August 19. We're sure Coach Mike Krzyzewski will have adjustments ready for the next game, considering he is a leader who just happens to coach basketball.

Carmelo Anthony left the game with a hyperextended knee. We have always wondered how much one has to extend one's knee to reach the medical definition of "hyper."

USA Basketball [Official Site]

Generally speaking, we think it's silly for online writers — who are the only ones free from the PR/press pass/everybody-play-nice circle jerk of commercialized athletics — to salivate over press passes as if they had, at last, been invited to the ball. But we will make an exception when the folks from Free Darko sit courtside for the United States-Puerto Rico international game.

They hang out with Brad Miller at a Best Buy, ask Jim Gray if he likes being single and even give a shirt to the man Gilbert Arenas himself. We are fascinated by USA Basketball and have read countless stories about the first game. This is, without question, our favorite.

Free Darko At The Hem Of USA Basketball [Free Darko]

I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't notice this. What you are looking at is the court on which Team USA drubbed Puerto Rico last night in an exhibition basketball game. And, as was noted at sethgunderson.com, the lane looks a little... well, penile.

White lines were painted or taped onto the floor to mark the international trapezoid-shaped lane. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, they may wish that they had used black instead. If not, I'd rather they just went the rest of the way and painted some balls on there, too.

USA Basketball is Sexy! [Seth Gunderson]

But a closer look at the Team USA roster, like the one the folks at Old Skool Sports have done, reveals that the roster not only isn't radically different than the Team USA's of old, it's almost exactly the same as the original Dream Team.

Dwight Howard is Charles Barkley, Elton Brand is Karl Malone, Brad Miller is Christian Laettner and Bruce Bowen is Chris Mullin. And that's just the role players.

We remain disappointed that Allen Iverson is not on the team. Little would make us happier than seeing Coach K and A.I. interacting.

We Got Game [Old Skool Sports]