Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament


The men's basketball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, began on 10 August and ended on 24 August, when the United States defeated Spain 118–107 for the gold medal. All games were held at the Wukesong Indoor Stadium.

Qualification

CountryQualified asDate of qualificationPrevious appearancesFIBA World Ranking
Olympics hostJuly 13, 20016 11
World championSeptember 3, 200610 3
Asian championAugust 5, 20071 45
Oceanian championAugust 22, 200711 9
African championAugust 25, 20074 14
Americas runner-upSeptember 1, 20074 1
Americas championSeptember 1, 200715 2
European championSeptember 15, 20071 16
European third placeSeptember 16, 20074 5
Wildcard qualifierJuly 19, 20082 20
Wildcard qualifierJuly 19, 20083 6
Wildcard qualifierJuly 20, 20084 9

Format

Ties are broken via the following the criteria, with the first option used first, all the way down to the last option:
  1. Head to head results
  2. Goal average between the tied teams
  3. Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group
All times are local Beijing Time.

Squads

Preliminary round

All times are China Standard Time

Group A




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Group B




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Knockout round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

The Americans got off to a start with the Spaniards hitting seven of their first nine shots; if not for a 10–0 run by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, the Americans would have trailed in the first quarter. With USA leading by 14, Spain chipped away at the lead during the second quarter to cut the deficit to eight points.
The team traded baskets in the third quarter, with Spain cutting the deficit further to seven. A three-point field goal by Rudy Fernández cut the lead into two, the smallest deficit with 8:13 left in the fourth. Kobe Bryant and Wade extended the lead with three-pointers to 103–92 but Spain had a final push, capped with another three-pointer from Carlos Jiménez to reduce the lead 108–104. In the final 2 minutes a three-pointer by Dwyane Wade and a Kobe Bryant field goal extended the lead back to 9.

Awards

Statistical leaders

Top ten in points, rebounds and assists, and top 5 in steals and blocks.

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Game highs

Final standings

Rankings are determined by: