SAITAMA, JAPAN, Sept. 2, 2006 – Yesterday, one optimist said that, color-wise, there's isn't much difference between gold and bronze.

My first thought was, yeah, right. You try bringing a bronze necklace home to your wife and see if she notices. Then you’ll truly know the difference.

But I got thinking, when Team U.S.A. looks down and sees some metal – no matter how semi-precious – hanging from its own neck, that's still a better view than the 2002 World Championship team had when it finished sixth.

Dwyane Wade was simply unstoppable in the fourth quarter. Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

"It’s better to go home with something," U.S. forward Chris Bosh said, his bronze medal still dangling in front of his chest. "We could’ve gone home with nothing."

Could have, yes, but Dwyane Wade, fresh off the taste of a different basketball championship, wasn’t about to let his team head home without one more win – especially when it was against the team many predicted the U.S. would face in the gold-medal game. So, despite tired legs and a worn down body from having only one month off after winning an NBA title with the Miami Heat, Wade took over and looked every bit as unstoppable as he did during The Finals.

"I think if (both) teams were fresh, that we would play at an even higher level," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I'm sure we’ll be playing them again in the future, hopefully not in a third place game."

With Team U.S.A. clinging to a 69-62 lead heading into the final 10-minute period, Wade took over, attacking the hoop for highlight-reel dunks and reverse layups before stepping back and dropping in a couple from long range, scoring 18 of his game-high 32 points during the span. By the time he was done, with only three minutes remaining in the contest, the U.S. held its largest lead of the game, a 16-point edge, and those already-tired Argentinean legs were completely out of gas.

"The last quarter was like NBA showtime," Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said, "with Wade and (LeBron) James dunking the ball all the time. When you are tired like that, it's impossible to win."

In the opening moments, however, it was tough to tell Argentina suffered at all from its loss to Spain at the final horn one night earlier. In the first five minutes, three current or future NBA players – Fabricio Oberto, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola – combined to score all 17 points as Argentina jumped out to an eight-point lead.

Lesser teams might have been content to trade baskets, all but call it quits and write the summer off as a waste. But not this group, it's only just beginning.

"You never want to be satisfied," James said after receiving his memento of this summer's hard work, "but I'm happy we didn't lay down. We didn't mope and moan about what happened yesterday. We moved on and played a very good team today and we played probably our best game of the tournament."

The only problem: The team needed its best game yesterday, when it showed up with arguably its worst. But the team's three captains – Wade, James and Carmelo Anthony – weren't about to let that happen again.

Argentina maintained a seven-point lead with three minutes remaining in the first half, until Anthony sparked a U.S. run by getting out on the break for a layup and the foul. Anthony would finish the three-point play before he and James each canned triples to pull within one point. Moments later, Anthony knocked down another three with only four ticks on the clock to give the U.S. its first lead of the ball game, 50-49, heading into the break.

The U.S. players never relinquished the lead over the next 20 minutes and proudly ascended the podium to receive their hardware. And rather than dwell on the thought that it wasn't a different color or sulk because they didn’t accomplish a short-term goal, they did what they’d been doing since convening in Las Vegas in mid-July: They held their heads high, smiled and saluted their fans and countrymen.

"No question, we lost the gold. That was evident yesterday," Wade said. "But, we are going back with our respect. We’re going back with our heads up high. This is a three-year commitment; it's a three-year stand for all of us. So, this was a step in that direction."

Coach K echoed those sentiments after the game, saying, "For these guys to show the character to come back the next day after a tough loss was terrific. That means we have accomplished quite a bit in terms of building the unity of our team. That's what we're trying to build in international basketball."

And while, in the 2006 World Championship, the U.S. didn't turn managing director Jerry Colangelo and Coach K into master architects overnight, it did prove they're onto something with this whole notion of a national team over a collection of individual superstars. In one short month, they got a group, who spends up to nine months of the year apart, to bond, learn to work together rather than shut each other down and discover that, no matter how skilled each one is, as a team they still have some work to do.

"This was the most fun I've had in a while," Wade said of his national team experience, "just being around a great group of guys. We all gained relationships and we all gained respect and love for each other. So, this summer was not a waste for us."

But can you imagine trying to sell that to folks back in the States had the Americans bowed out of the medal ceremony with two straight losses?

"We had to come out here and win this game," Wade said, "because if we lose two … that ain’t good."

No, Mr. Wade, two losses would not have been good. But a bronze medal, well, on second thought, that is.