Congratulations to Chris Paul and Team USA, who defeated Spain 118-107 early this morning to win gold at the Beijing Olympics. Damn game messed up my whole sleepy time but it was sure fun to watch with Spain playing their asses off, Kobe Bryant coming up clutch, and CP showing his usual steady hand throughout.

Paul sank nine free throws in the game — three of them in the final minute — and finished with 13 points, 5 assists, 3 boards and 2 steals in just over 24 minutes of burn. For the tournament, CP led the USA in assists (33), assists per turnover (3.7 to 1) and free throw percentage (.917). He was third on the team in minutes (21.9), second in steals (18), and, despite being the shortest guy on the squad, sixth in rebounds (3.6).

Nice job, CP. For your next trick, how about an NBA championship?

Linkage:

• Complete Olympic stats for Team USA
• Hornets Hype: blogging the gold medal game

8/25/2008 – Update to add this quote from George Shinn…

"I know everyone in New Orleans and all of Louisiana is as proud of Chris Paul as I am. I'm so impressed with how the entire US team handled themselves on and off the court in Beijing and it's great to see our Olympic team back on top of the basketball world. Speaking specifically about Chris, the entire nation and world continues to discover why he is such a remarkable representative for New Orleans, Louisiana and the NBA."