But Spain returned the favor last summer, beating France in the semifinals of the EuroBasket to clinch an Olympic berth. Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving is the team leader in assists, notching 30 in the first five games.
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Ginobili played in four Olympics for the team known as “The Argentine Soul” and won the gold in Athens in 2004, a milestone that catapulted the country to the top tier of global basketball. The NBA All-Stars got lucky that that the ball bounced off the rim. But the players seemed confident. Team USA would avenge the devastating loss to Argentina and reclaim the gold in 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London. “But majority with the same core group of guys, good friends, representing a lot of people that I love”. 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.
Ginobili, 39, and longtime 36-year-old teammate Andres Nocioni retired from worldwide competition after the game, 12 years after winning gold in Athens. They were older, but still savvy. Their signature win came in a double overtime battle against host-nation Brazil with a 111-107 win that would end up eliminating the hosts. The U.S. was an unwitting proxy in a bitter border rivalry that encompasses all sports. Point guard Facundo Campazzo, who plays in Liga ACB and has his rights held by Real Madrid, is Argentina’s leading scorer at 16.4 points per game while shooting 40 percent from the field. George had 17 points to lead the bench, but it was his defensive effort that changed the face of the game. They’re more athletic, bigger than us.
“If we do it like that”, Butler said, “it’s going to be fun to watch”. This gives the mature Argentinian ball club a fighting chance against the great Team USA. Thompson is one of the “Splash Brothers”, along with Stephen Curry, a duo known around the National Basketball Association for their three point shooting prowess. “The squat 5’11” Campazzo was an inspiration to weekend warriors everywhere.
– Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave)Carmelo is as impressed by the Argentina fans as we are.
The Argentines jumped to a 19-9 lead on the Americans, who then went on a 27-2 run to take control. But we’ve still got Kevin Durant. “I just didn’t care about the outcome of the game”, Durant says. “Sometimes we’re not going to win, like today, sometimes we won but we fought together for many years”. It may be different for others players.
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.
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The quarterfinals will continue with Australia vs. Lithuania, Spain vs. France, Serbia vs. Croatia. And it couldn’t have been more fun. Brazilians chanted back. It might have been the loudest 25-point blowout in the history of basketball.
