I have been impressed with NBC’s Olympic basketball coverage thus far, as the United States looks to regain gold-medal form after the utter disappointment of a bronze four years ago in Athens. But what really has impressed me most is that NBC has been able to score the NBA’s broadcasting version of the “Dream Team.”

NBC’s Olympic basketball coverage features a rarely found cooperative mix of exceptional talent from rival networks. Mike Breen, from ESPN/ABC, serves as the lead play-by-play man in Beijing. Joining him is TNT lead analyst Doug Collins and courtside reporter Craig Sager. The trio is doing an outstanding job of keeping viewers engaged, as Team USA has crushed a week’s worth of international competition by an average of 20 points per game.

NBC could not find a better or more prepared announcing team. Together, Breen, Collins and Sager have a vast working knowledge, not only of the NBA players that make up the USA Basketball roster, but also of the Olympic teams that the U.S. faces. Besides the fact that this trio has collectively broadcast over 200 NBA games during the past year, each of these announcers brings his own international experience to the Olympics. While formerly employed by NBC, Breen was the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s Olympic basketball coverage at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, the 2000 Games in Sydney and the 2004 Games in Athens. Collins, another NBC analyst at the time, joined Breen in Sydney and Athens along with Sager, who was on loan from TNT.

Because not one of the trio is now part of NBC Sports, getting Breen from ESPN/ABC and Collins and Sager from TNT together to do the Olympics for NBC was no easy task. It took some good, old-fashioned teamwork between networks and the NBA in order to pull them together for Beijing. NBC Olympics Chairman Dick Ebersol and NBA Commissioner David Stern reached out to these rival networks for their cooperation.

When asked about loaning Breen to NBC, ESPN/ABC spokesman Nate Smeltz said, “It is not surprising that NBC wanted the lead voice of the NBA to cover the basketball competition at the Olympics. So, in cooperation with our good partners at the NBA and in the spirit of the Olympics, we are pleased to allow Mike to work with NBC.”

Jeff Pomeroy at TNT said the network wanted to cooperate with their partners at the NBA by allowing Collins and Sager to be part of the Olympic coverage: “We see no conflict in allowing some of TNT's marquee announcers to work for NBC during the Olympics. It is great for the NBA and for the fans”

It is certainly not unheard of for networks to occasionally loan out their talent to their competitors for a special event or two. But seldom will you see broadcasters of this caliber being sent off to a rival network for this length of time. With so much at stake for the NBA, only the best would do. Now the viewers are the clear winners in this show of Olympic unity.