It's easy to see the appeal of men's basketball the NBA stars are global celebrities, fans care, TV goes gushy-gushy gaga but as an Olympic moment it's not the pinnacle. (For half of the men's basketball games in London, you needed a pail of cold water over the head at halftime.) With the gold for the U.S. almost assured failure is really the only surprise the intrigue becomes about weird secondary issues, like the team-bonding for the U.S. players.

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