The pride of Argentina also was for a generation of terrific basketball coming to an end, or at least about to undergo a changing of the guard.
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Tony Parker of France and Manu Ginobili of Argentina have played their last game in worldwide basketball.Both members of the San Antonio Spurs.
Sure enough, the USA was down 10 early, but in the end crushed Argentina 105-79, ensuring the Golden Generation would finish with just one gold.
With the victory, the American women have now won a whopping 48 straight Olympic games, and a 49th straight victory in the gold-medal game would mean a sixth straight gold.
After Argentina jumped to a 19-9 lead, causing its fans to rejoice throughout Carioca Arena I, the Americans jolted from their slumber and scored 27 of the next 29 points.
After trailing 19-9 early in the first quarter, the US came out with a vengeance, turning a 10-point run into a 16-point lead by halftime.
But this year’s players were still quarterfinalists against a USA squad whose past two games were three-point wins against France and Serbia.
Paul George (Indiana Pacers) had 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks, DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings) had 15 points and Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) had 11 points.
Second-ranked Spain also made a poor start to the tournament with losses to Brazil and Croatia before shifting into top gear with four straight wins, including a 92-67 victory over France on Wednesday to ease into the last four. They fell to the U.S.in the final game at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics.
U.S. captain Carmelo Anthony played at each of the Summer Games, as did Spain’s Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez, Felipe Reyes and Jose Manuel Calderon.
“We’ve always felt Spain, they’d have a gold-medal chance, and why wouldn’t we think that?” The U.S. won that one by 36 points, but had a much harder time in this one without Bird. “We’ve set the goal of winning a gold medal and today was just another step”.
Four years after the German men claimed the country’s first Olympic beach volleyball title, Ludwig and Walkenhorst beat Brazil 21-18, 21-14 on Wednesday night.
“We have ultimate respect for Spain”, US coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I’m into it. It’s the Olympic Games”.
Tony Parker, 34, confirmed after the loss that he had played his final game for France.
If the Americans lose, given that the competition is universally regarded as weak, it will go down as one of the most humbling moments in US basketball history.
By the thousands, to the end they sang and danced and made such a mosh pit around the ledges of the upper deck that you could only hope nothing disastrous happened. “We know how tough it’s going to be”. On Wednesday, two of his longtime teammates did so on the worldwide stage.
The U.S. moves on now to play Spain in an eagerly anticipated semifinal matchup.
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“It’s been an honour playing against Argentina over the past four Olympics and world championships and things like that”, said Carmelo Anthony, who has played for the United States since 2004. And for the next two Olympics the USA dominated just as the United States should.
