When Sergio Llull hits a three-pointer, that's when you know that things are going well. As he knocks down the shot, a foul is called on the inside and Spain gets the ball back.
They quickly turn it over though and LeBron James draws the foul in this suddenly chippy game.
Also, as a correction from earlier, it was Sergio Rodriguez who threw the earlier alley-oop to Rudy Fernandez.
43-41 USA with 6:30 remaining in the second quarter.
Kevin Durant is really good at basketball.
The high-scoring small forward takes advantage of a late rotation by Marc Gasol and hits a floater on the baseline over the big man, draws the foul and completes the old-fashioned three-point play at the line.
Team USA is doing a much better job of driving to the rim and taking advantage of their speed and athleticism rather than settling for contested three-pointers.
46-44 USA with 5:30 remaining in the second quarter.
Marc Gasol was just called for his FOURTH foul of the first half as he attempts to bring down an offensive rebound.
Ouch.
Marc is going to sit out for a looooooong time now, even though the game is close. Terrible coaching by Spain to leave him in and not tell him to calm down.
48-44 USA with 5:10 remaining in the second quarter.
Great defense by Kevin Durant, who rotates over to stop penetration then recovers to pick up his initial man on the other side of the rim and forces a missed shot. Unfortunately for Team USA's leading scorer in the game, the offensive rebound goes right to Juan-Carlos Navarro, who drills another three.
50-49 USA with 4:17 remaining in the second quarter.
LeBron hits a floater. Somewhere, Mario Chalmers is thrilled.
52-49 USA with 3:35 remaining in the second quarter.
LeBron James is doing it all tonight. Surprise, surprise.
He grabs the offensive rebound after a Carmelo Anthony miss from three (now that IS a surprise) and puts it home.
LeBron now has eight points, six rebounds and two assists in the first half.
58-51 USA with 1:45 remaining in the second quarter.
The referees really love calling fouls in this game.
There have been a combined 32 calls in this game. Let the guys play!
59-54 USA with 43.6 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Spain will hold for a shot with just a few seconds left on the clock. Pau Gasol misses a shot from the post but Andre Iguodala turns it back over on the other end.
Rudy Fernandez flops and gets an intentional foul called against Iggy, sending him to the free-throw line. Rudy knocks down both free-throws.
Seriously though, he fell the wrong way on his incredibly blatant flop. That's just wrong.
59-58 USA with 4 seconds remaining in the second quarter
One-point lead for Team USA going into halftime.
The United States has to continue driving and stop fouling, or at least getting close to fouling and watching as the officials blow the whistles.
59-58 USA at halftime.
Halftime Leaders
United States
Points: Kevin Durant (17), Kevin Love (9)
Rebounds: LeBron James and Kevin Love (6)
Assists: LeBron James (2), Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul and Deron Williams (1)
Steals: Kevin Durant and LeBron James (1)
Blocks: Kevin Durant (1)
Spain
Points: Juan-Carlos Navarro (19), Rudy Fernandez (12)
Rebounds: Pau Gasol (6), Serge Ibaka (5)
Assists: Pau Gasol and Sergio Rodriguez (4)
Steals: Pau Gasol and Rudy Fernandez (1)
Blocks: None
Spain draws iron on both of their first two shots in the second half, then LeBron goes to work on the other end. It took almost six minutes for a Spanish player not named Pau Gasol to score.
The Americans are starting to run though, drawing fouls and hitting shots to take a bit of a lead.
Kobe Bryant heads to the free-throw line after a reverse layup attempt and extends the gap to five points after he makes both of his charity shots.
77-72 USA with 3:49 remaining in the third quarter.
A quick Spanish run cuts the American lead to just two points as both teams are getting sloppy. Now, instead of fouls, we're seeing turnover after turnover.
Serge Ibaka hits a jump-hook over Carmelo Anthony and this back-and-forth game is tied once more. At least until Kevin Durant hits another three-pointer.
83-80 USA with 1:25 remaining in the third quarter.
The newest member of the Denver Nuggets almost comes away with a sensational block on Serge Ibaka, but he gets called for a foul instead.
Andre Iguodala might have gotten called for a foul even without hitting Ibaka's arm, but it's hard to tell from the given angle.
Ibaka makes both free throws and it's a one-point game again.
83-82 USA with 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Team USA holds the ball and uses the clock. Deron Williams has a magnificent dunk attempt, but Serge Ibaka makes sure that it's only an attempt as he prevents the ball from actually going through the rim.
Sergio Rodriguez misses a desperation attempt and Spain goes into the fourth quarter trailing by just a single point.
83-82 USA at the end of the third quarter.
Through three quarters, the United States has attempted 53 shots and 26 of them have been three-pointers.
That's simply unacceptable in a game where the referees aren't hesitating at all before calling fouls.
LeBron changes that a bit to start the final period and makes a layup after a great entry pass, but Sergio Llull responds quickly with a layup of his own.
85-84 USA with 9:17 remaining in the fourth quarter.
LeBron James should not be settling for contested three-pointers over Pau Gasol in an isolation setting.
He needs to be more aggressive and drive to the basket every time h touches the ball.
90-84 USA with 7:39 remaining in the fourth quarter.
He's done so in quiet fashion (due to the scrutiny over the performance by the refs), but Kevin Durant now has 30 points. Three-zero. 30.
He's only the fifth American player to score 30 points in a game and could challenge Carmelo Anthony for the single-game record.
How impressive would that be in a gold medal game?
93-86 USA with 6:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Kobe Bryant is fouled on a three-pointer by Rudy Fernandez, who picks up his fourth whistle of the game.
93-86 USA with 6:00 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Chris Paul is playing fantastic defense out on the perimeter, but Pau Gasol still manages to get the ball as he cuts to the basket and draws a foul.
Pau knocks down one of two freebies and the Americans have a chance to extend the lead to double-digits.
95-87 USA with 5:00 remaining in the fourth quarter.
It takes two possessions to do so, but extend to double-digits is exactly what the Americans do as Kobe hits a bank shot after an offensive rebound.
The Spaniards respond with a shot to bring it back to eight points and Carmelo Anthony is hobbling up and down the court. Rudy Fernandez has a wonderful tip-in after a miss by Juan Carlos Navarro in transition.
After an American turnover, Mike Krzyzewski calls a timeout and substitutes LeBron James back into the game.
It's crunch time now.
97-91 USA with 3:20 remaining in the fourth quarter
Pau Gasol tips the offensive rebound right into the hands of Kevin Durant, who passes it to Chris Paul.
CP3 draws the foul in transition and the Americans will have to play out of the half-court set. It works rather well as LeBron throws down a monstrous dunk on the drive from the right after two men follow Durant to the other end of the court.
99-91 USA with 2:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.
LeBron James. That's all.
A huge contested three-pointer gives the Americans a nine-point lead with under two minutes remaining and then Pau Gasol gets called for a moving screen and Team USA has the ball once more.
Once more: LeBron James.
102-93 USA with 1:51 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Spain is now playing against both Team USA and the clock, down three possessions (at least) with only 1:20 remaining.
Juan-Carlos Navarro misses a three-pointer and the Americans are now content to slow down the game quite a bit. Chris Paul hangs onto the ball the entire possession, takes it himself and makes a sensational spinning layup.
Game. Set. Medal.
104-93 USA with 42 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Mike Krzyzewski jumps up for joy in what could become one of the defining images of Team USA's run through London.
It's great to see the legendary basketball coach with such passion as he hugs the players he's coached to a gold medal when they come off the court.
It's time for the substitutes to enter the game, as we have our first unibrow sighting of the gold medal game.
The celebrations have begun.
105-95 USA with 30 seconds remaining.
Marc Gasol knocks down a layup and the lead is down to just six points with 12 seconds remaining. James Harden better hit some free throws here, or Team USA could have to put the starters back in.
The Beard misses his first attempt, but drills the second one without drawing iron to push the game to three possessions.
Anthony Davis pulls down the rebound and the ball ends up in the hands of the Unibrow as the final buzzer sounds.
Final Score: 107-100 USA
Team USA wins gold as so many expected, though not quite in dominant fashion as SPain gave them all they could handle.
It's great to see the pure joy of the NBA superstars as they dance around on the court.
LeBron James' incredible year continues as he now has a regular-season MVP, Finals MVP, NBA Title and Olympic gold medal.
Stat LeadersUnited States
Points: Kevin Durant (30), LeBron James (19) Kobe Bryant (17)
Rebounds: Kevin Durant and Kevin Love (9), LeBron James (7)
Assists: LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony (3), Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant (2)
Steals: Chris Paul (3), LeBron James (2), Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant (1)
Blocks: Kevin Durant (1)
Spain
Points: Pau Gasol (24), Juan-Carlos Navarro (21), Marc Gasol (17)
Rebounds: Sege Ibaka (9), Pau Gasol (8), Rudy Fernandez (6)
Assists: Pau Gasol and Sergio Rodriguez (5), Segio Llull (3)
Steals: Sergio Rodriguez (2), Pau Gasol and Rudy Fernandez (1)
Blocks: Serge Ibaka (1)
