In his best game of the Olympics, Jason supplied everything Team USA needed to move within one game of Olympic gold.

The United States (7-0) took care of business Friday night in Beijing, defeating defending Olympic champion Argentina (5-2), 101-81, and Jason was right in the middle of the victory.

J-Kidd started at point for the seventh straight game (7 assists, 2 points, 2 rebounds) and recorded 16 minutes of playing time.

U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski was complimentary of No. 5 when talking to reporters after the game:

“He’s the first guy I went to in the locker room as they were coming in, I said ‘that was by far you’re best game.’ He really was a great leader for us. What he was doing against the zone in moving people around and moving the ball, he played his best game. That third quarter, especially the start of the second half was critical for the win. And, I think Jason was the primary guy making that happen.”

TAKING THE LEAD
Team USA hasn’t counted on Jason’s shooting much, instead letting him be a facilitator — a role he thrives in. But his first basket Friday started an 18-0 run and gave the team a lead they would not relinquish.

With Team USA trailing 4-3 early in the game, No. 5 dribbled up court following an Argentina basket and looked off a defender. The fake left J-Kidd wide open for a two-point jump shot that gave America a 5-4 lead.

As Jason told Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News:

“You have to kind of bottle the energy up and keep it under wraps,” Kidd said. “Don’t think about the gold medal.

“At 35, this is my last go-round. To say that I can play for a gold medal and play with this group of guys is unbelievable.”

CALMING CARMELLO
Though he came up with 7 assists in the game, No. 5 can be credited with another big assist that won’t show up in the box score.

With the game close in the third quarter Jason played mediator in keeping Carmello Anthony from getting into a fight, and possibly ejected, as described by ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan:

And, it should be noted, Anthony might not have had a chance to get those four straight free throws if Jason Kidd hadn’t corralled him and steered him away from a confrontation after Anthony took exception to a particularly hard foul on Howard by Oberto and Nocioni a few moments earlier.

Anthony would go on to sink four technical free throws and led the team in scoring with 21 points.

Jason told Michael Lee of the Washington Post he was just doing his job:

“I understand international

[basketball]. They want you to lose your composure, so that you will go one-on-five, and in a tight game, that gives them a chance to beat you,” Kidd said. “Melo’s an emotional guy, and we all understand—we’re not going to take that away from him. But at the same time, we need him out there on the floor. For everybody to understand that, and be right there to nip it in the bud, that’s what I’m here for.”

WORK TO DO
Despite the 20-point win that clinched at least a silver medal for he and his teammates, J-Kidd isn’t taking anything for granted

“Early on we were going in the right direction and then we kind of flipped the car in cruise control. We stopped playing defense, we stopped talking and we started fouling and the momentum kind of shifted to them and they started going to the line. We put a little pressure on ourselves in the sense that we had to make every shot at that point. We missed a lot of threes.

We really haven’t done anything but hold serve. We’ve worked hard and now we’ve put ourselves in position to play a very tough team in Spain. We’re going to have our hands full, but we haven’t accomplished anything yet… This is what everybody has worked so hard and volunteered to give their summers — to put ourselves in this position.”

NEXT UP
With the victory, Team USA moves on to the gold medal final to take on Spain (6-1), a team the Americans blasted 119-82 in pool play. The winner will be crowned Olympic gold medal champion with the loser going home with the silver medals. Though his team will be favored, Jason knows the type of challenge Spain presents:

"Spain is good. I think they’ll be even more dangerous with Calderon out because it gives the young kid more playing time and he gets comfortable and he likes the spotlight. Gasol and those guys get another chance at us. They’re a dangerous team.”

The game can be seen at 11:30 PM PST on the NBC Basketball Channel or online at NBCOlympics.com.

RELATED STORIES
Back again: Jason Kidd ready for another gold medal game (Dallas Morning News, August 22, 2008)
http://olympicsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/08/back-again-jason-kidd-ready-fo.html
Additional Quotes Team USA 101, Argentina 81 (USABasketball.com, August 22, 2008)
http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_page=08_moly_07_quotes
Kidd calmly leads Americans to gold medal game (Washington Post, August 22,2008)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/22/AR2008082202407.html
Team USA has a shot at gold after winning head-scratcher (ESPN.com, August 22, 2008)
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/basketball/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&page=US-Argentina-080822
Team USA 101, Argentina 81 Boxscore (ESPN.com, August 22, 2008)
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/basketball/men/boxscore?gameId=829