BEIJING — I had to hand it to Mike Krzyzewski for the unexpected gesture he made on Saturday afternoon.

We were at Beijing Normal University for the Americans' final practice prior to today's gold-medal game against Spain. And by we, I mean the press corps that has followed the USA men's basketball team throughout the Beijing Olympics.

We were upstairs above the floor watching the final minutes of warmup of that final practice and had just been asked to leave, because they were closign practice, when Krzyzewski turned to the balcony and shouts up his thanks as the rest of the team clapped and cheered for us.

BEIJING — USA guard Jason Kidd has endured all the old-man jokes he can stomach here with a young USA team that is now 17 hours away from winning the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Probably. Maybe. Most likely.

Kidd still is waiting on that contract extension with the Dallas Mavericks. At 35, having not led the Mavs to the promised land in the 2008 NBA playoffs, and starting but playing second fiddle to youngsters Chris Paul and Deron Williams in Beijing, Kidd knows his NBA glory days are
numbered.

BEIJING — Jason Kidd might not ever live this down with his superstar teammates on the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team.

James committed the minor sin of taking a layup on a breakaway feed from LeBron James instead of dunking in the second half of an impressive U.S. win over Spain on Saturday.

He's already the oldest man on the team at 35 and takes plenty of stuff about that. Here's first James, then Kidd, talking about the play.

BEIJING - The U.S. beat China 101-70 in Pool B play for the Beijing Olympics at Wukesong Indoor Stadium late Sunday night. It hardly mattered, not when an appreciative, boisterous hometown crowd came to show their appreciation for the Chinese national team.

The Chinese took the floor and the crowd went wild. Yao Ming made the first bucket, a 3 from the wing, and the crowd went wild.

Chinese Landry Clark look-alike Zhu Fangyu - that's a Friday Nigh Lights reference for all you non-believers - made two 3's in the first quarter and the crowd went wild. Dwyane Wade scored several  fastbreak buckets - he led all socrers with 19 points-  while keying a second-quarter spurt for the U.S. and the crowd went wild.

You get the picture. Basketball is alive and well in China. Time for the NBA to move in.

BEIJING — Asked what he was supposed to be doing for the U.S. team at the Beijing Olympics and Jason Kidd joked, "Getting towels, fetching water for Chris (Paul)."

Kidd averaged 12.8 minutes per game in the Americans' 5-0 pre-Olympic run. Paul and Williams are dominating the time in the backcourt with 42 combined assists in over 20 minutes per game a piece.

Whether Kidd continues to start and still take a backseat will be determined by how well the U.S. can keep its head. Something about watching the U.S. fail in Athens in 2004 convinced him to get back to the Olympics in 2008.

USA point guard Jason Kidd said Beijing will be his final Olympics. He could go out as one of just a handful of Americans with two gold medals in men's basketball is the U.S. wins the tournament that begins Aug. 10 at Wukesong Indoor Stadium.

The Dallas Mavericks veteran also wants to deeply breath in the smells, listen closely to the sounds, and let his eyes swim in the sights he'll encounter in China.

"In 2000, I kind of did that," Kidd said of winning the gold in Sydney. "But it was more like I was young and I felt I would come back again. ... [The opening ceremonies are] unbelievable. It goes too fast. We're one of the last countries to be introduced. You walk in, see all the other countries ... it gives you goose bumps. But now that I know how fast it goes by, I'm going to try to walk a little slower."