There were rumblings that the biggest celebrations after France defeated Spain in the FIBA World Cup Quarterfinals did not come from the French but from the Americans. Team USA Basketball's ability to beat the Spanish juggernaut was always in question, now it will never be resolved.

Team USA would like to remind that everyone that it's not their fault-it's Spain who is a no-show. The Americans will face the Serbians (after a cliffhanger game against France) in the Finals on September 14.

The jeers amidst the cheers started to take its toll on the players. Kenneth Faried, Team USA's breakout star of the tournament, reiterated that the Americans WANTED the showdown with Spain to finally end the speculation.

From ESPN:

"He (Faried) said some media members were guilty of giving Spain 'too much hype' while being 'borderline disrespectful' to the American big men and their chances of succeeding against brothers Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka."

Eventually, the Denver Nuggets' "Manimal" had some fierce comments:

"I've been trying to hold my tongue for this one. I felt as though we came out and did our job, and y'all kept saying, 'Oh, you're not going to beat Spain.' Spain couldn't even beat France. When Spain can meet us at the championship game, then come talk to me."

Derrick Rose, one of the leaders of the team, also couldn't hold back his sentiment when the media portrayed Team USA as getting a lucky break:

"Lucky? Come on. Luck don't(sic)have anything to do with it. ... I think that's one of the reasons why we came over here ... to play them. Too bad we're not playing them now. Hopefully, we go out there in our next game and play hard and just know that we're there for a reason."

Kyrie Irving, who was stellar in their semifinal drubbing of Lithuania (he led the team with 18 points) summed up:

"Obviously everybody wanted to see us play Spain, but we're not. So those questions can go out the window."