The United States advanced to its third consecutive gold-medal game with an 82-76 victory Friday in another tight matchup between the teams that met in the last two championship games. He scored 12 in the second quarter, including a 3-pointer to give the U.S. squad its biggest first-half lead at 33-23. With Jordan in the middle, though, the US won the battle of the paint, 36-32. Spain also struggled from deep as Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez, and Nikola Mirotic combined to shoot just 3-for-15 on threes.
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The Americans will play Spain on Saturday in search of a sixth consecutive gold.
While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. The point guard sprained her right knee capsule in the quarterfinals and has been listed as day-to-day. However, with all that said, the United States is way too talented and way too deep to lose this game.
Turning Point: DeAndre Jordan soared for a high-flying put-back dunk off a missed Thompson three-point attempt for a 61-50 US lead with 3:44 left in the third quarter. Without Bird, the Americans looked discombobulated at times on offense.
In order to reach that game – and go for their 24th straight victory, and third straight gold, since Mike Krzyzewski took over as Olympic coach – they needed to get past a semifinal that, for a variety of reasons, lacked flow. Several energy plays from DeAndre Jordan in the frame, including a demonstrative putback dunk followed by a blocked shot against Pau Gasol, made it seem like the United States would finally seize control, but Spain kept it within single-digits heading into the fourth mostly by feasting on second chance points. Remember, there are only two Americans on this team with Olympic experience: Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant.
So far in Rio, the US women are undefeated – not only winning every game, but doing so in staggering, record-setting fashion.
Serbia’s win guaranteed its first Olympic medal in men’s basketball since gaining independence in 2006.
The Spaniards were barely able to contain their excitement as the final minutes ticked off the clock, dancing and hugging before running onto the court to celebrate. “I take pride in it”. She hadn’t lost in a major tournament in years, but she had been less dominant in recent tournaments.
The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team is still a little better than Spain.
Felix adds to gold medal haul: In the shadow of mighty Usain Bolt, Allyson Felix achieved something unprecedented in women’s track and field Friday night by winning her fifth Olympic gold medal. Most likely, at least. Her tee shot on the par-5 18th failed by a foot to clear a bunker, and the ball stayed on the steep slope of soft sand. “This morning I was coughing up blood”, said Suhr, 34.
Team Serbia will get a second chance at Team USA this tournament, this time with much higher stakes. But that said, I thought we did a great job of getting it done. “I hit the shot of the week there”.
“We wouldn’t be playing for the gold medal if DeAndre didn’t play that well”, Krzyzewski said.
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The U.S., which won the last two Olympics in Beijing and London, will face the winners of the other semifinal between Australia and Serbia on Sunday.
