RIO DE JANEIRO-The United States reaffirmed their status as gold medal favourites blowing away Argentina 105-78 on Wednesday to storm into the semi-finals of the Olympic men’s basketball tournament.
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By the end of the first quarter, the Americans already were up 25-21, with Durant leading the charge but the initial heavy Argentine pressure had forced US coach Mike Krzyzewski to call his first time out just four-and-a-half minutes into the game to get his team focused.
Green played just 13 minutes and finished with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one point.
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.
In front of a chanting, flag-waving crowd of Argentines who came to throw a raucous farewell party for their Golden Generation, the Americans delivered their most complete performance in Rio.
But on Wednesday there would be no repeat against a motivated Team USA that clearly wanted to make a statement.
The momentum began to change when Paul George came in for Carmelo Anthony.
With a 135-5 record in Olympic competition, losses are rare at the Games for the United State but Argentina can claim one of them.
Ginobili, 39, and longtime 36-year-old teammate Andres Nocioni retired from worldwide competition after the game, 12 years after winning gold in Athens. “The last three games in the pool play were very beneficial to us because we played three outstanding teams”.
Three-point plays by Cousins and Jimmy Butler around Durant’s 3-pointer in an 11-0 start to the second made it 36-21 before Facundo Campazzo stopped the onslaught with a three-point play.
But with so much talent the United States were never going to go down without a fight.
Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez was emotional after the game because of how long he’s known Ginobili. The Argentines made nine of their first 10 shots inside the arc and led 19-9 when Andres Nocioni hit drilled a 3-pointer.
The Americans had a 25-21 lead after the first quarter and opened it up to 56-40 by halftime.
Cousins, the normal starting center playing as a reserve, finished with 15 points.
The United States beat France in the gold-medal games in the past two Olympics, winning 118-107 in 2008 in Beijing and 107-100 in 2012 in London.
They opened a 25-point lead in the first half and were in control from that point on, the first time since their second game in Rio they had it easy. “We understood that and we understand that we have to play our best games now”.
Ginobili is still playing for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association while Nocioni plays for Real Madrid in Spain.
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“We’ve got to build on it”, Durant said, “but we’re not satisfied at all”.
