Pau Gasol takes a breather, looks ahead to Beijing

Paul Gasol (left) of Spain (Photo credit: FIBA)Photo Gallery>>Pau Gasol's NBA campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers didn't end in the way he had hoped but he can still win a title with Spain when they travel to China for the Beijing Games.

The Spanish are hoping to follow up their gold medal victory at the 2006 FIBA World Championship with an Olympic crown but Gasol, who is resting after the Lakers' 4-2 defeat to Boston in the NBA Finals, knows they will have a tremendous fight on their hands.

"Team USA are clear favorites but that is something they have to prove on the court," he said.

"They are a very strong team with almost all the best players in the NBA.

"A different matter is whether things will go their way and whether the team finds synergy, something that is not easy when you have so many stars."

Among those Team USA stars is the NBA's Most Valuable Player this season, Kobe Bryant, Gasol's Laker teammate.

"I already told Kobe that we would make life difficult for them," Gasol said.

"At least now we will face the USA in our group stages which guarantees us that we will not meet them in the quarter-final as we did in Athens."

Indeed, Gasol and Spain cut down the opposition in Athens in the preliminary round, winning all five games, but then ran into a hot Stephon Marbury and lost to the United States 102-94 in the last eight.

Marbury drilled several shots from long range and finished with 31 points