Argentina is playing with same four players that were there during 2004, but U.S. isn’t the same team that trounced in battle in Beijing and London. Too many scorers, he said. On Tuesday night, the beach-volleyball icon suffered the first Olympic loss of her career. Of course, players must seem confident.
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Ginobili was moved by Anthony’s gesture and that of USA coach Mike Krzyzewski, who offered similar sentiments. “But we’re OK. We’re fine”.
The U.S. men’s basketball team had a comfortable win against Argentina, advancing out of the quarterfinals Wednesday.
Team USA revved up the defense, moved the ball while attacking as a unit and with some second-unit fire, unloaded a frightening 27-2 run, including 20 straight points, to seize control early in the second quarter.
Kevin Durant led the way with 27 points, while Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins gave their team a much-needed boost off the bench, scoring 17 and 15 points, respectively.
“The only thing that we changed was our passion and our energy”, said Kevin Durant. “That’s the big difference”.
The depth and size of the Americans proved decisive. Cousins was able to take advantage of his size disparity down low, and he bullied his way to 15 points and two blocks. He scored 8 quick points and energized his fans. It was the first time since 1988 that the USA was denied the gold medal in basketball, and Argentina announced its presence on the world stage with incredible authority by securing gold in 2004.
Even though the United States were the only team to finish group play without a loss, questions about their ability to claim a third straight gold swirled after three unimpressive narrow wins to close out the preliminary round. But most of all, it was Durant.
It took a little while to get going, as Argentina opened a 10-point lead.
The Americans’ toughest test awaits in the semifinals, where they will face a Spain team that has looked dominant over its last three games.
The match-up against Spain is one of the most anticipated games in the tournament as they are the top two teams in the world rankings. Ricky Rubio and Juan Carlos Navarro chipped in five assists each to dump France and Tony Parker (14 points).
“They showed some weaknesses that we had and we tried to get better”. “Pau Gasol is a load down there in the post”.
It’s widely expected that they’ll smash Team Argentina in this quarterfinals round, and if they don’t succeed, the consequences are devastating.
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Point guard Facundo Campazzo hardly noticed Kyrie Irving was guarding him as he hit four early buckets, while Luis Scola, Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni all chipped in on the offensive end as Argentina hit nine of its first 12 shots. Then the US comeback arrived, starting at 3:48. Durant was the only one keeping the USA alive in the opening period and was phenomenal all night long, scoring the first seven points for the US and scoring or assisting on 19 of their 25 first-quarter points overall. He ended the first with 13, pretty much singlehandedly responsible for a 25-21 lead after the first.
