The chances of a team other than the US winning the gold in men's basketball at the Olympics are barely worth talking about.
Going into the tournament, the only team who would really have been expected to go toe-to-toe with the Americans was Spain. Four years ago in London, they won silver. It's a team with plenty of NBA experience. They travelled to Rio without one of their most influential players - Marc Gasol. A foot injury to the centre really hamstrung the Spaniards' chances.
Currently, they're ranked number two in the world. On Sunday night, they took on world number 12 Croatia. It was a game Spain were expected to win easily - that's not how it worked out.
On RTÉ, they cut to coverage of the game late in the fourth quarter. Of course, Timmy McCarthy and sidekick were on commentary duty.
When Nicola Mirotic nailed a 'Nothing but net, can you count it? Yes, you can' three with 12 second remaining it sounded like McCarthy could not get any more excitable. That was incorrect.
After some dawdling by guard Sergio Llull, Spain got one more chance to level the game. The ball came to the hands of Pau Gasol - the player Spain would have most desired to receive possession. A shot from Gasol was blocked by Dario Saric - McCarthy lost the plot.
78 by yossarianlives5
