Ibaka played just 15.1 minutes per game averaging 8.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for Spain. It was hard for him to find time playing the same position as the Gasol brothers and it bothered him.

Ibaka’s anger was public and a secret during the Olympic Games. After every practice, while the rest of the players shared coffee or fruit, the Thunder forward kept all the distance possible. The day before the final, for example, he waited all by himself in the bus for half an hour, with an angry look.

Ibaka felt underutilized, his status questioned. “If things keep going this way, I’m not coming back [to the Spanish national team],” Ibaka told close friends before the final against United States.

via ElMundo.es

Ibaka definitely was underutilized for Spain but it is not something that was too surprising. European coaches often play more talented players less minutes and instead go with players with more experience or that bring more chemistry to the floor.

The Gasol brothers were going to get the bulk of the big man minutes too, everyone knew that going into the Games. The surprise was when Ibaka would be on the bench while Felipe Reyes was getting minutes or Spain was going small.

Ibaka’s impact on the floor was something no other Spanish player had, being able to protect the rim so well and being a superior athlete to just about anyone.

Ibaka’s Olympic experience was hoped to be one where he could grow into a more confident and complete player. That wasn’t exactly the case but it wasn’t all bad either.

Ibaka played in the NBA Finals and then an Olympic gold medal game at the age of 22. He has signed a 4-year, $48 million contract extension with the Thunder. He will have grown from these experiences and the Thunder can expect better Ibaka going forward.

The United States won gold for the second straight Olympics beating Spain 107-100 in the gold medal game and unsurprisingly remain atop the FIBA rankings.

The top five on the rankings are still the same, in order USA, Spain, Argentina, Greece and Lithuania.

Russia jumped five spots to the No. 6 spot replacing Turkey who slides back to No. 7. Russia had a very impressive Olympics finishing first in their group and beating Brazil and Spain in the process. They would go on to lose to Spain in the semifinal round however but did beat Argentina in the bronze medal game.

France and Brazil who each fared well in the Olympics as well moved up four spots each to No. 8 and 9, respectively. Australia will round out the top 10.

Great Britain made the greatest leap moving up 20 spots on the rankings to No. 23. Great Britain played in the Olympics only because they were the host country and were led by a very valiant performance by Luol Deng in the Games.

Tunisia also moved up quite a bit getting 10 spots higher to No. 22 after also participating in the Olympics.

The Republic of Congo, Liberia and Togo remain unchanged in the rankings, all tied for last in the world.

There is talk from NBA commissioner David Stern about putting together a Basketball World Cup that would resemble what soccer has and essentially be competition for Olympic basketball.

So that may be on the horizon as well as the discussed 23-and-under age-limit that may be put on American players but that is not expected to come in to effect until 2020 at the earliest.

FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann and his group plan to propose the sport to have it included in the Olympics as early as 2016.

“Like volleyball has beach volleyball, swimming has synchronized swimming, we want three-on-three to be part of it,” Baumann told USA Today.

Baumann said that 3-on-3 would give more countries a chance to be represented in Olympic basketball and help grow popularity of the sport globally. Each country would be responsible for coming up with a way to rank their best 3-on-3 teams and have one represent them.

It’s hard to imagine NBA players would be participating in this. It seems more likely that this would be an Olympic sport where the U.S. always sent amateurs.

It would be interesting to see the kinds of rules that would be set too. Obviously it would be played half court but usually with 3-on-3, there aren’t officials. You call your own fouls and there is far less structure than what there is in every other Olympic sport we currently have.

It seems like this should be further away from happening than the next Olympics, but four years is a long time to get something done.

For fun, imagine the best USA team we could put together. LeBron-Durant-Howard with maybe Rose as a sub. Rubio-Gasol-Gasol would have a tough time getting the gold from that squad.

There has already been a lot of talk regarding the future of USA Basketball. We know that Mike Krzyzewski will not be the head coach although he plans to remain involved with the program to some extent. Doc Rivers, Gregg Popovich and Doug Collins are a few of the names rumored as possible replacements.

A lot of the players from the 2012 team are likely to not return in 2016. Kobe Bryant said that this was his last Olympics and a few others may not be back either. Four years is a long time and players like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul will all be in their 30’s in 2016.

There has also been some talk of the NBA implementing a 23-under age-limit for future United States basketball teams. It is unlikely though that will come into effect until 2020.

If we look at the 2012 roster, there are a few players who are good candidates to be on the team again in 2016: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis seem the most likely. LeBron and Anthony might be the old guys who decide to give it one more run in what would be their fourth Olympics.

That leaves at least five more roster spots assuming no one else returns. Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin are two of the youngest players who would have been playing on this team. They both missed these Olympics due to injury. If chronic injuries become a growing concern for either, they might not be options in 2016 either. Dwight Howard will still be young enough to be an option as well.

A couple of point guards from the Select Team seem like good options in Kyrie Irving and John Wall. Both were former No. 1 picks which often are invited to the team.

Some other hopefuls from the select team include Kawhi Leonard, Greg Monroe and Paul George. Rookies Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Bradley Beal and Harrison Barnes are likely to be candidates as well.

There is also a very high likelihood that there will be a few players to make the 2016 team that aren’t in the NBA just yet. Some names that come to mind are top recruits Nerlens Noel, Shabazz Muhammad and Jabari Parker.

It’s really hard to tell at this point what the roster may look like in four years but here is what I am projecting:

Point guards: Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving
Shooting guards: James Harden, Paul George
Small forwards: Kevin Durant, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kawhi Leonard
Power forwards: Kevin Love, Blake Griffin
Centers: Anthony Davis, Greg Monroe

I think in 2016, we will make sure to send over a team that has more size than the 2012 team had. Love, Griffin, Davis and Monroe will be a good foursome to have banging down low. Of course, Durant can play a lot of the four as well.

Rose and Westbrook will probably start in the backcourt. Irving is going to be a monster by 2016 and Harden will be in the conversation for best shooting guard in the NBA with George right behind him.

MKG will be the Iguodala of the team. MKG is going to be a very well-liked player at this point and considered a kind of glue guy for this team.

Leonard seems like another guy who a lot of people are high on. He was impressive in his rookie season with San Antonio and is expected to increase his role with them going forward.

Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden all won gold for Team USA this past weekend as the team beat Spain 107-100 in the gold medal game. Serge Ibaka would medal as well as he took home the silver playing for Spain.

“I have a gold medal,” Durant told USABasketball.com. “It’s unbelievable, man. I couldn’t sleep last night waiting for the game. I’m glad we came out and got the W.”

The Thunder players got this chance to represent their countries after a long NBA season ending in disappointment when they lost to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

While there has been a lot of talk about NBA players sacrificing and risking a lot to play in the Olympics, it may have been just what the Thunder players needed.

“I think it’s really helpful for them to play under different circumstances; it only rounds them out as players and makes them better,” Thunder GM Sam Presti told SI.com. “What we observed from the World Championship was just the mental endurance that it takes to go through an international competition and the training camp that leads up to it in medal-round play just to get there.”

Presti also doesn’t have to worry as much about the Thunder players because they are so young. Durant will be 24 next year while the other three are all a year or so younger than him. They can handle throwing in the Olympics in their summer and still have the time to rest some and be ready for next season.

As Durant will tell you, he’d be playing basketball anyway and it might as well be in the Olympics. Basketball has become year round and these guys are used to playing at a high level during their summers.

“Just the level of mental endurance that Kevin and Russell have been exposed to and conditioned themselves to, I think has really helped us in our playoff series,” Presti said. “That’s a real benefit. I think Serge’s experiences with the national team, again just being in different situations and adjusting to different styles of play, it only makes him a more well-rounded player.

“And James now is also getting that level of experience. I really feel like we’ve benefited from all of the exposures that the players have been given, and I think they’re all very grateful for the opportunity too. It’s fun to watch them in these situations.”

Harden playing with the team this time around should really benefit him and the Thunder long-term. He got a chance to be around the best players in the world some more, learn from LeBron and Kobe, and bond some more with his teammates in a once in a lifetime experience.

With extension talks on the horizon for Harden, playing in the Olympics should only increase his desire to stay in OKC.

“Everything,” Harden said when asked what he will take away from the experience. “Every single day it was something different. Especially, like I said, being with these guys. You get to watch them play basketball, you play basketball against them, but once you are the same team you get a feeling for who they are as a person. Every single day was something different and I am just happy to be a part of this team.”

Winning gold is something that surely helped ease the pain of losing in the NBA Finals but the Thunder players were still reminded of it every day. All they had to do was look across the court at LeBron to remember the hurt.

That experience is what will drive them to be better next year. It wasn’t just winning gold on this team but doing it with LeBron and seeing the kind of year he was having. Durant talked about how hard it was to see LeBron every day training for the Olympics because he wants so bad what he has.

It really couldn’t be coming together any better for the Thunder players. Their Olympic experience went about as good as it could have and they are now better for it.

Durant led Team USA in 30 points that game, the most points ever scored by a United States player in a gold medal game. Durant set a U.S. record with 156 points in the 2012 Olympics as well.

Durant wants more gold though.

“We’ll see,” Durant told NBA.com when asked about if he plans to play in the 2016 Olympics. “You never know how these things are going to play out … Hopefully I get a chance to go to the next one.”

There has been talk about a new 23-under age-limit for Team USA and Olympic basketball although it is unlikely that will come into effect until 2020.

We also know that Mike Krzyzewksi will step down as the head coach of Team USA. Kobe Bryant also announced this will be his last Olympics.

Durant and two of his Thunder teammates, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, represented the U.S. this year. Those three are definitely frontrunners to be on the team again in 2016.

Durant would be on pace to become the all-time leading scorer in U.S. Olympic in 2016 if he plays. No. 1 and 2 on that list now are David Robinson and LeBron James, who each needed three Olympics to get to the top of that list.

“I felt like I did it right,” Durant said. “Out of college I had an opportunity to practice with these guys. Then I went into the Select Team process, and being one of the younger guys that was going to be looked at for years to come.

“Being one of the main guys on that 2010 team and then having this opportunity to come in here and compete for a gold medal, it was a long journey for me. Even though it was my first one, it was a long journey. I’m glad I got this opportunity and I’m glad I went through those situations and I’m just happy we got this gold.”

Kevin Durant led the way scoring 30 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the game. Durant set a U.S. record for most points scored in a single Olympics in the game and also had the most points ever by a U.S. player in a gold medal game.

LeBron James added 19 points becoming just the second player ever along with Michael Jordan to win an MVP, NBA title and gold medal in the same year.

Team USA was pretty dominant for most of the Olympics but Spain made them work for gold, trailing by just one entering the final quarter. Team USA came out hot in the final quarter and would make the big plays when they needed them down the stretch.

Here are the final grades for each Team USA player:

LeBron James – 13.3 PPG, 5.6 APG, 5.6 RPG, 60 FG%, 30 3PT%, 75 FT% – A

LeBron looked like the best player in the world when he wanted to in these Olympics. He came up huge down the stretch of Team USA’s two closest games vs. Lithuania in pool play and Spain in the gold medal game. He silenced any critics with everything he did and has to feel pretty good right now. LeBron showed us nothing new in the Olympics except maybe an overwhelming sense of confidence in everything he did on the floor. He was arguably the most valuable player on the team leading everyone in assists and defending much bigger players for most of the tournament.

Kevin Durant – 19.5 PPG, 2.6 APG, 5.8 RPG, 49 FG%, 52 3PT%, 89 FT% – A

Durant not surprisingly led the U.S. in scoring. He was huge for them in the gold medal game and without his 30, could have easily lost to Spain. His display shooting the shorter three in these games was remarkable. He seemed the most unfair of the Team USA players vs. the international competition. Durant most importantly stepped up his defense as the tournament went on. His length really seemed to bother the international players a lot who aren’t used to seeing someone his size move so agile. Durant produced more consistently than any other player on Team USA in every game and that’s why he deserves just as much as LeBron to be recognized as the team’s MVP.

Carmelo Anthony – 16.3 PPG, 1.3 APG, 4.8 RPG, 54 FG%, 50 3PT%, 79 FT% – A

Anthony made the most noise on this team in their record-setting pool play win over Nigeria. He set a U.S. Olympic scoring record in that game with 37 points and made 10-of-12 threes. It is often said how perfectly Anthony fits into the international game and that was definitely evident again in these Olympics. His shot was on in almost every game as he was less of the isolation player we see him as in the NBA and more of just a catch-and-shoot guy. He came off the bench as Durant started every game but it did not faze him as he embraced the role. Team USA really couldn’t have asked for much more from Anthony.

Kobe Bryant – 12.1 PPG, 1.3 APG, 1.8 RPG, 43 FG%, 44 3PT%, 91 FT% – C

Kobe looked really bad in these Olympics until the medal round when he kind of came alive. Other than Deron Williams, Kobe had the lowest field goal percentage on the team and was a liability on defense as well. He was the old man of this team and that’s exactly what it looked like. He rarely kept up with his teammates on the fast break, never made the right pass when leading a fast break and simply made you start feeling a little sorry for him a lot of the time. Kobe did step up and play better in the medal round and that’s why he isn’t getting an F grade here. The truth is that Team USA would have been much better without Kobe than they were with him.

Chris Paul – 8.3 PPG, 5.1 APG, 2.5 RPG, 51 FG%, 46 3PT%, 50 FT% – A

Paul underratedly had a pretty fantastic Olympics. It was no surprise that he did a good job setting up his teammates in every game and played great defense on opposing point guards, but it was his shooting that really stood out. Paul is a very capable shooter in the NBA but really came through in the Olympics too with his 3-point shot. Deron Williams is considered possibly the better international style point guard but Paul made it clear that Williams is not in his league with his play in these Olympics. Another great job by Paul was that way he let LeBron be the playmaker while on the floor with him, something he is not used to doing in the NBA.

Deron Williams – 9.0 PPG, 4.6 APG, 1.5 RPG, 39 FG%, 40 3PT %, 77 FT% – C+

Williams had a pretty disappointing Olympics for the most part. He was never terrible in the way Kobe was but he definitely underperformed. He could have seen a lot more playing time had he been hitting his shot a little more often. As a result, he ended up barely playing in the gold medal game.

Russell Westbrook – 8.5 PPG, 1.6 APG, 1.6 RPG, 48 FG%, 33 3PT%, 74 FT% – B-

There were some pretty high expectations for Westbrook coming into these Olympics as Kobe and a few others, mentioned that he could play the role Dwyane Wade did back in 2008. Westbrook didn’t do that and playing behind Paul and Williams, he didn’t get a lot of playing time in general. His game is not made for the international style and he didn’t look like he fit in too much. He wasn’t playing point and had the ball much less than he does in the NBA. He made a lot of bad turnovers and didn’t have many assists either. He could have easily played at a level where he demanded more minutes than Kobe but he just didn’t. His greatest value to the team was the pressure defense he put on opposing guards, especially from the weaker teams.

Kevin Love – 11.6 PPG, 0.4 APG, 7.6 RPG, 63 FG%, 36 3PT%, 57 FT% – B+

Love really came on late in the Olympics for Team USA and basically became part of their crunch time lineup. There weren’t many bigs on the roster so the opportunity to find minutes wasn’t hard for Love. All he had to do was rebound, which he did better than anyone else on the team, and make shots, which he struggled with a little. Love clearly didn’t love the FIBA ball and it showed with his low shooting percentages. He still made himself an invaluable part of the team with his rebounding.

Tyson Chandler – 4.0 PPG, 0.4 APG, 4.0 RPG, 70 FG%, 33 FT% – C-

Chandler started every game but only averaged 11.3 minutes per game. He got in a lot of foul trouble and was never anything special on defense either. He was never a liability while on the floor but he definitely underperformed. Even against Spain, when Team USA needed him more than ever to compete with their size, he only played nine minutes. It’s safe to say, Chandler was a huge downgrade from Dwight Howard.

Andre Iguodala – 4.3 PPG, 1.4 APG, 2.8 RPG, 70 FG%, 56 3PT%, 50 FT% – B-

Iguodala didn’t play much either in these Olympics but did a pretty good job while he was out there, you just didn’t notice him much. He shot a high percentage from three but out of a small sample size. He could have been used more in lieu of Kobe for his defense but that was a tough decision Coach K chose to avoid.

James Harden – 5.5 PPG, 0.8 APG, 0.6 RPG, 50 FG%, 30 3PT%, 57 FT% – B-

Harden wasn’t going to play a lot in these Olympics and really didn’t do too good of job in the little time he did play. Whenever he came in, he was going to take a few threes but he only shot 30 percent on them. He had a few really nice dunks but that was about it. With Durant and Anthony shooting so well from distance, there was never a moment for Coach K to look to Harden to come in and provide some outside shooting in a close game.

Anthony Davis – 3.7 PPG, 0.0 APG, 2.7 RPG, 65 FG%, 67 FT% – A

Davis was one of the biggest winners of these Olympics. He got to piggy back on to a team filled with the best talent in the NBA before ever even playing in the NBA, and comes home with a gold medal. Davis was impressive when he was on the floor too. His defensive presence was maybe the best of anyone on Team USA and he clicked very nicely on some lobs with the point guards. He will be a very good NBA player, that’s how you come away feeling about him after watching him play in London.

Mike Krzyzewski gets to ride off into the sunset from his Olympic coaching career, getting his second gold medal and finishing his career as Team USA’s coach with a 62-1 record.

The game was very reminiscent of the 2008 gold medal game. Spain came out playing better than they had all Olympics and trailed by just one point entering the fourth quarter.

Team USA came out great in the fourth though scoring seven quick points. Then LeBron James picked up his fourth foul, came out of the game and Spain remained within striking distance.

When LeBron came back in, he made a backbreaking 3-pointer over Marc Gasol in the same way Kobe Bryant made a huge three four years ago.

LeBron James caps off an amazing year for him that included an MVP, NBA title and now gold medal making him the first player since Michael Jordan in 1992 to do that.

Pau Gasol led Spain with 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the game.

The U.S. made the plays they needed to down the stretch. It wasn’t the prettiest win. Each team committed 27 fouls in the game and Spain also battled foul trouble with Marc Gasol picking up four in the first half and sitting the entire third quarter.

The U.S. made 15-of-37 threes in the game while Spain wasn’t as good at 7-for-19. Team USA also held their own on the boards outrebounding Spain and getting 12 offensive rebounds.

With the win, the United States capture their 14th gold medal in Olympic basketball history.

Here are grades for all of the players:

LeBron James – 30 minutes, 19 points, 3 assists, 7 rebounds – B+

It wasn’t LeBron’s best game but he came up big when Team USA needed him scoring five points in the final three minutes. The zone Spain mostly played limited what LeBron did on offense as less of Team USA’s offense ran through him. When he picked up his fourth foul late in the game and had to come out, it looked like Team USA might be in some trouble but they survived.

Kevin Durant – 38 minutes, 30 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist – A

Durant passed Spencer Haywood as the all-time U.S. leading scorer in a single Olympics in this game. Getting 30 from him was huge and very necessary for Team USA to pull out the win. By his standards he was a little off on his shot making 5-of-13 threes in the game. He was better scoring all around in this one and got to the line 10 times, making nine. His defense remained solid as well as he got many deflections and held his own down low.

Carmelo Anthony – 21 minutes, 8 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds – C+

Anthony was nothing special in this game making just 2-of-6 threes. He also got into foul trouble and with him not scoring much, Team USA became really dependant on Durant and Kobe to fill it up, which they did. Anthony was great rebounding on defense in the fourth quarter though while matched up with bigger players.

Kobe Bryant – 27 minutes, 17 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds – A

Kobe had been bad for a lot of these Olympics but really looked pretty good in the medal round, including this game. He hit some big shots early and late and shot a solid percentage. He had a few bad turnovers but luckily that didn’t cost the U.S. the game.

Chris Paul – 33 minutes, 11 points, 2 assists, 3 steals – B+

Paul was a little too passive in this game and could have looked for his shot a little more late. He still hit a big three in the third quarter and made a huge driving layup with 53 seconds left to put Team USA up 104-93.

Deron Williams – 10 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist – C+

Team USA could have used another player to step up and hit some outside shots. Williams made both of his 3-point attempts but didn’t do much else. He didn’t play as much as he had been either with the game pretty close in the second half.

Russell Westbrook – 9 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound – C+

Westbrook did not play at all in the second half and didn’t make much of an impact in the first half either. Westbrook is a great NBA player but his game didn’t translate too well in these Olympics within this team.

Kevin Love – 19 minutes, 9 points, 9 rebounds – B

Love’s rebounding was huge and he had three offensive boards but his post defense was basically nonexistent. He couldn’t contain the Gasol brothers really at all and that was a big reason why the game was close.

Tyson Chandler – 9 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound – C

Chandler hardly played again and didn’t even do a good job while he was in as Pau Gasol scored on him a few times. His impact was minimal.

Andre Iguodala – 2 minutes, 1 rebound, 1 turnover – C

Iguodala hardly played too. Even with LeBron in some foul trouble, Coach K went with Kobe playing more minutes instead of some Iguodala.

James Harden – 1 minute, 2 points – C

Harden came in with under a minute to play with the game pretty much in hand. He got fouled twice and went 2-for-4 from the line. Unacceptable.

Anthony Davis – 1 minute, 1 rebound – C

Davis pulled down the final rebound of the game. That has to count for something. Can’t wait to see him in Rio, and the NBA for that matter.

Shved made 6-of-11 threes in the game after struggling with his shot for most of the Olympics and also had seven assists and five boards. Kirilenko made 8-of-12 shots in the game to go with eight rebounds and two blocks.

Shved and Kirilenko will both be coming to the NBA next season to play with the Minnesota Timberwolves and did a great job here in London leading their team to the bronze medal.

Argentina’s loss here signifies the end of an era. Argentina was the one team that challenged the United States more than anyone in basketball and even won the gold medal back in 2004.

This will surely be the last Olympics for veterans Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino. Ginobili scored 21 points and made four threes in the loss. Scola had 11 points and Delfino played the entire game and scored 15.

Andres Nocioni, who also may be playing in his last Olympics for his country, had 16 points.

It wasn’t enough though for Argentina who just wasn’t quite what they once were in these Olympics. They made 13-of-33 threes in the game but didn’t do enough on defense as Russia shot 50.9 percent for the game.

Vitaliy Fridzon came off the bench and was huge for Russia scoring 19 points. Fridzon was also instrumental earlier in the Olympics with 24 points off the bench when Russia upset Spain in pool play.

Russia’s win here caps off an impressive run for them in the Olympics. Led by head coach David Blatt Russia looks like a country that will be around the top of international basketball play for years to come.

Argentina will have to reload but it’s hard to see where that talent will be coming from.

The United States and Spain will play in the gold medal game at 10 a.m. EST on NBC this morning.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The United States will take on Spain in the gold medal game at 10 a.m. EST this morning. The U.S. and Spain are meeting in the Olympic gold medal game for the second straight Olympics with the U.S. winning in 2008 118-107.

Team USA and Spain were the two favorites in these Olympics and were expected to meet in this game. The United States rolled through their competition winning all seven games by an average of 35.7 points per game.

Things didn’t go quite as planned for Spain who lost twice in group play to Russia then intentionally to Brazil so as to avoid the United States until the gold medal game. That worked out well for Spain who beat France 66-59 in the quarterfinals then knocked off Russia 67-59 in the semis.

Spain is considered the greatest test for Team USA so far. They may not have looked their best so far in the Olympics but we can expect to see them play their best basketball today.

Pau Gasol is averaging 18.4 points per game to lead Spain while brother Marc is second on the team scoring 12.0 points per game.

Spain will have a significant size advantage vs. the U.S. as they also bring Serge Ibaka off the bench, who is only playing 14.1 minutes per game and averaging 7.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

Team USA’s lack of size was supposed to be a big weakness for them entering the Olympics but they have made up for it with great 3-point shooting. As a team, the U.S. is shooting .445 percent from three in the Olympics and taking 36.6 threes per game.

Kevin Durant is leading the team averaging 18.0 points and shooting .558 percent from deep. Carmelo Anthony is second on the team at 17.4 points per game while shooting .525 percent from three.

LeBron James has also come on of late for the U.S. notching the first ever triple-double in U.S. Olympic history in the quarterfinals vs. Australia. He’s averaging 12.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and is leading the team with 5.9 assists per game.

Two big factors will decide this game: 3-point shooting and size. Spain is fully capable of outplaying the U.S. in both areas and will need to, to have a chance at winning.

We know they will have the size advantage but they will need to take advantage of it scoring from the post. That will open up the 3-point shot which Spain has struggled with these Olympics shooting it at just .328 percent.

They have some players who can heat up from deep though, most notably Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro. Spain should be able to nullify Team USA’s excellent ball pressure defense with their experienced guards, Jose Calderon and Sergio Rodriguez.

This is the game we have all been waiting for. It’s the only right way to decide the gold medal in basketball, having these two teams play a 40-minute game. The U.S. will be favored and rightfully so but Spain has as good a chance as anyone to pull off the upset.

This will also be the final game as head coach of Team USA for Mike Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski has led the United States to a 61-1 record under him since he took over in 2006 and was there when they won gold in Beijing four years ago. 61-2 would be considered a failure for Coach K.

USA vs. Spain is the gold medal matchup everyone wanted to see. The United States are of course the favorites to bring home gold while Spain has always been considered their greatest competition.

Team USA has won all seven of its games in the Olympics so far by an average margin of 35.7 points per game. Spain has been far less impressive losing twice in pool play and looking weak in each of their last two games in the medal round.

The United States has passed some tests so far, beating Argentina twice and surviving a close scare vs. Lithuania but Spain should still be their toughest battle yet.

Here are five reasons why Spain might upset the United States in the gold medal game.

Spain is bigger

Let’s start with the most obvious one here. Spain has a significant size advantage over the U.S. and they intend to take advantage of it as much as possible. Spain starts the Gasol brothers and then brings Serge Ibaka and Felipe Reyes off the bench.

The U.S. will start Tyson Chandler as their only big and use Kevin Love too but mostly plays LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony at power forward. The U.S. has outrebounded their opponents by over 10 boards per game in the Olympics but that is mostly because they are shooting a far higher percentage.

The U.S. is definitely weak inside as we saw in their games vs. Lithuania and Argentina, when they play without a rim protector their opponent will get a lot of relatively easy looks at the rim.

Spain will pound it inside on offense and pack in their zone on defense. This is closer to the international style and they will have an advantage. Mismatches do go both ways though and Team USA will have to make sure they take advantage by featuring their more skilled forwards in positions where they can be effective against slower, bigger defenders.

3-point shooting

Team USA has lived by the three and they’ve won by it so far in the Olympics. They are attempting 36.6 threes per game and making .445 percent of them. That’s off the charts but there is always a chance even for Team USA to go cold from behind the line tomorrow morning.

Durant and Anthony become very important in this regard as they have led Team USA in 3-point shooting. Durant is shooting .558 percent from three in the Olympics and Anthony .525. They are Team USA’s two leading scorers as well.

Spain has been on the opposite end in terms of 3-point shooting success in the Olympics. They’re shooting just .328 percent as a team with some of their best guys really struggling.

Rudy Fernandez is third on the team in scoring and shooting .367 percent. Juan Carlos Navarro is shooting .333 percent and Jose Calderon .348 percent. Even Pau Gasol has been shooting the three for them, making just 5-for-15 in total.

Spain is fully capable though of heating up from three in any game as they showed in the second half of their semifinal game vs. Russia. They will need to do that and pray that Team USA has an off shooting night to pull off the upset.

40-minute game

The games in these Olympics are eight minutes shorter than NBA games. That means there is greater chance for an upset and less time to erase mistakes made early in the game. Spain is more experience playing this style and will surely try and take advantage of it to the fullest mostly by controlling the pace of the game.

Fortunately for Team USA, Spain hasn’t been getting off to great starts lately and will definitely need to if they plan to win the gold medal. Spain should be up for this game more than any other though and we should see a more concentrated effort from them. Pau Gasol admitted himself that Spain has been looking ahead too much in the Olympics so far. That won’t be the case tomorrow.

Team USA has consistently seen teams play their best games against them, at least for spurts. With the game obviously being close early, Spain should show us their best game from the start. We’ve seen Argentina unable to sustain this for 40 minutes but Spain may be able to.

Officiating

The officials haven’t exactly been on the side of Team USA in these Olympics as per usual. The rules are a little different and there are some things that Team USA will simply never get used to. We’ve seen a lot of Team USA players called for traveling or called for very questionable fouls.

You only get five fouls before fouling out in international play and that could play a huge factor. Chandler will be more important than ever in this matchup vs. Spain but he has in every game gotten into some sort of foul trouble. One would expect that to happen again vs. Spain and that could be very bad news for Team USA.

Team USA players don’t get star treatment either overseas. LeBron and Durant will be asked to defend Spain’s post players some and will be vulnerable to some easy foul calls. If one or both of them has to sit on the bench more than normal, Spain will have that much better of a chance to pull off the upset.

Kobe

Kobe is probably Spain’s best chance for beating Team USA. Kobe has been for the most part pretty horrible in the Olympics although he has been better in the last two games. We know that Kobe will be shooting in the gold medal game and if he’s not hitting, that will put Team USA in a tough spot.

Coach K will more than likely play Kobe at least half of the game and probably more and he will have him out there during crunch time, if there is one. Kobe has the potential to shoot Team USA out of the game or Spain into the game if he looks like the Kobe we saw in pool play.

The same goes for Anthony as well. Both he and Kobe are going to take shots, probably a lot of bad ones, and if they’re not falling, Spain will be that much closer to Team USA.

The margin for error will be the smallest for Team USA tomorrow morning. They’ve been able to overcome their imperfections so far but Spain is the real test.

Team USA went on to beat Argentina 109-83 to comfortably advance to the gold medal game where Spain awaits them.

“Hopefully he’s fine,” Kevin Durant said in a sideline interview after the game. “Russell bounces back quick from injury, so hopefully this one isn’t any different. … He ran off. It didn’t seem like it was too bad. Hopefully he’s all right.”

Sources told Yahoo! Sports that Westbrook is fine and will play in the gold medal game vs. Spain.

Westbrook is averaging 9.3 points per game in 14.4 minutes per game for Team USA. He has attempted the most free throws on the team at 25 in that amount of time.

Westbrook’s greatest contribution has come on the defensive end pressuring opposing ball handlers in the back court. No other country has anyone who can come close to the athlete Westbrook is on the floor.

Westbrook has never missed a game of basketball in his life. Literally, since high school Westbrook has yet to miss a game with an injury.

Tip-off for the gold medal game will be 10 a.m. EST Sunday on NBC.

Team USA led 47-40 at halftime after Manu Ginobili hit a three to end the first half. Ginobili came out strong from the start but slowed down late, finishing with 18 points in the game.

The U.S. shot 53.1 percent from the field and made 18-of-42 threes. They pulled away from Argentina again much like their last meeting with a big third quarter led by LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Spain beat Russia in their semifinal earlier today and hasn’t looked great so far in these Olympics but still should be considered the toughest test yet for Team USA.

Here are grades for the U.S. players:

LeBron James – 29 minutes, 18 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds – A

LeBron played another brilliant game doing a little bit of everything. Coming off the first triple-double in U.S. Olympic history in the quarterfinals vs. Australia, LeBron flirted with another one today. He went 8-of-12 from the field and was excellent finding open shooters all game long.

Kevin Durant – 27 minutes, 19 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks – B+

Durant led the U.S. in scoring thanks to his five 3-pointers, four of which came in the third quarter. Durant was better again with his interior defense and picked up a few blocks. He really didn’t look to be shooting well early in the game before getting a few to go down in a row in the third.

Carmelo Anthony – 22 minutes, 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists – B+

It was Anthony’s turn to put on the 3-point show in the second half of this game. He hit a few in a row and then a really deep one reminiscent of Durant’s the last time Team USA played Argentina. He made a few nice extra passes that he normally doesn’t which resulted in a little more balanced of a game in this one.

Kobe Bryant – 19 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals – B+

Kobe did his work at the beginning of this game after doing it in the second half of the last one. He came out hot making three 3-pointers in the first half and was pretty quiet after that. You know Kobe is going to take shots no matter what. He’s good when they’re going down but has been terrible when they’re not.

Chris Paul – 26 minutes, 10 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds – A

Paul just plays so good every game. He went 2-of-3 from deep and that’s just gravy with him. He had a pretty high assist total too as he always makes the smart play.

Deron Williams – 20 minutes, 6 points, 6 assists – B

Williams only shot 2-of-7 from deep which puts him well below Team USA’s average shooting percentage on threes. Coach K tried to use him more as Argentina played a lot of zone and Williams didn’t do anything special. The six assists were nice though.

Russell Westbrook – 9 minutes, 7 points, 1 turnover – B

Westbrook played with good energy again and was a little more under control in this one. All three of his baskets were nice. The first came on a good drive in the first half. Then he hit a three in the second half and got one of his patented pull-up jumpers to go down too. He came up lame with what appeared to be a leg injury late in the fourth. It didn’t look too serious and for a guy who has never missed a basketball game in his life, it’s hard to get worried.

Kevin Love – 16 minutes, 9 points, 9 rebounds, 1 block – A

Love was very big today especially with his work on the glass getting four offensive rebounds. As Team USA continued to shoot the three when seeing zone, Love was there to help get them second shot opportunities whenever he was in. He was 0-for-2 shooting the three himself but his impact was hard not to notice.

Tyson Chandler – 12 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds – B

Chandler didn’t play much again but did just fine while he was out there. He had a nice slam in the second half from a Paul feed and was his usual solid self on defense. Picked up three fouls though.

Andre Iguodala – 11 minutes, 2 points, 1 assist – B

Iguodala found out last night he was being traded to the Denver Nuggets so maybe he felt a little weird for the game. He played fine while he was out there though and had a nice highlight reel alley-oop finish from Paul late in the game.

James Harden – 5 minutes, 3 points, 1 steal – B

I could have sworn Harden hit two threes in this game. One of them rolled around the rim some and may have been credited to Love for a tip-in. His shot looked good and he even had a nice block in transition from behind on a player.

Anthony Davis – 4 minutes, 1 rebound – C

Just very little garbage time for Davis again and he didn’t touch the ball.

It was a very ugly game in the first half especially by Spain as they shot very poorly from the outside and Russia was matching their physicality inside.

Spain got their act together in the second half, hitting some threes early in the third quarter and that really seemed to get the rest of their game going as well. Russia doesn’t have a prolific offense and once Spain took the lead couldn’t find enough to come back.

Spain advances to the gold medal game for the second straight Olympics and will await the winner of USA-Argentina who play later today.

Here are grades for both teams’ players:

Spain players

Pau Gasol – 34 minutes, 16 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks – A

Pau was quiet in the first half with the rest of Spain but made some big plays in the second including a 3-pointer. He didn’t seem to ever establish position well enough in the post but still led Spain in scoring.

Marc Gasol – 29 minutes, 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks – B+

The offense went through Marc in the fourth quarter and he delivered, scoring some and always looking to make other things happen too with the pass. He and his brother didn’t hookup as much with their great interior passing in this game but they came up big when they needed to and grinded out the victory.

Rudy Fernandez – 29 minutes, 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists – B

Fernandez didn’t have much going in this game besides the three 3-pointers he hit. With the score so low, all of them were big though and really got Spain going. He eventually fouled out and didn’t make some of the spectacular plays he’s sometimes capable of.

Jose Calderon – 33 minutes, 14 points, 3 assists – B+

Calderon had some bad turnovers late but the game was pretty much in hand by that point. He made four threes for the game and a few really big ones during Spain’s run. The Russia defense was good so the assist total was low but he definitely played big down the stretch for Spain.

Juan Carlos Navarro – 20 minutes, 4 points, 3 assists – C

Navarro is described as a player that plays big in big games but that was not the case today. Russia kept him in tact pretty easily and he only attempted one three in the game which he missed. He had a few nice assists but doesn’t have the explosiveness he used to, to create much else.

Serge Ibaka – 7 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds – C+

Ibaka barely played in this one and didn’t at all in the second half as Spain went with Felipe Reyes as a sub for the Gasol brothers instead of Ibaka. His basket in the first half was a nice one finishing with a foul on the fast break but his overall impact was pretty minimal. He played with a lot of energy and it’s a little curious why he doesn’t play more. Expect to see a little more of him if Spain sees the U.S. in the gold medal game.

Sergio Llull – 21 minutes, 7 points, 4 rebounds – B+

Llull has been great for Spain in the medal round so far. He plays with so much energy and is always looking to make things happen. Spain needed the lift he provided today especially and he made all three of his shots. He’s an underrated piece for this Spain team.

Russia players

Andrei Kirilenko – 34 minutes, 10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks – B-

Kirilenko was just 2-for-12 from the field but does so many other things too it wasn’t the worst thing in the world for Russia. They did need him to step up as Spain was coming back and he struggled to do so. He also missed a few key free throws late which could have given Russia a chance to come back in the final moments. He had a great Olympics leading Russia to a pretty impressive record but this was not his best game.

Alexey Shved – 26 minutes, 2 points, 7 assists – C+

Shved also really struggled from the field shooting 1-for-6 and 0-for-4 from deep. His jump shot has been off all Olympics but he has made up for it some with his playmaking. He did a nice job with seven assists but like Kirilenko, was needed to put the ball in the hoop more and came up short for his country.

Alexandre Kaun – 24 minutes, 14 points, 5 rebounds – A

Kaun played big time for Russia in this one holding his own with the Gasol brothers and leading Russia in scoring. He was very good rolling to the rim and within Russia’s offense and thanks to their good playmakers, he was found often finishing with dunks.

Viktor Khryapa – 34 minutes, 2 points, 4 assists, 6 rebounds – C

Khryapa was cold shooting today as well at just 1-for-6 and 0-for-4 on threes. He made some good plays as a playmaker at the top of the key like he usually does with the four assists but Russia needed a better shooting performance overall and from him in this one to win.

Timofey Mozgov – 14 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds – C

It’s interesting that Mozgov doesn’t start or play more for this team. He had been pretty good in the Olympics so far but was mostly a no show in this one. Russia went with the stretch fours and Kaun at center rather than trying to go bigger with Mozgov.

Anton Ponkrashov – 29 minutes, 10 points, 2 assists – B+

Ponkrashov stepped up his game vs. Spain much like he did in their first meeting. His scoring was huge with not much else working for Russia but like the rest of the team, he cooled off as Spain ran away with the game in the second half.

Sergey Monya – 25 minutes, 9 points, 2 steals – B+

When Monya was hitting threes in the first half Russia was looking like they were going to win. But they couldn’t sustain it for the entire game.

Vitaly Fridzon – 12 minutes, 8 points, 1 steal – C+

Fridzon lit up Spain for 24 points in their first meeting but was much less of a factor in this one. He was still fine in the little time he played making 2-of-3 threes. Russia went with more defense and Shved over Fridzon for most of this game.

Russia finished pool play as the top seed from Pool B, beating out Spain after winning their game 77-74 on a last-second 3-point shot. Spain led 20-2 in that game before Russia’s Vitaliy Fridzon got hot scoring 24 points to lead Russia back for the win.

Russia went on to beat Lithuania in the quarterfinals as Spain came from behind to beat France and advance.

Russia has been led by Andrei Kirilenko who is playing some of the best basketball of his life of late. Kirilenko is leading Russia averaging 18.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while shooting .587 percent from the field. Kirilenko was quiet in Russia’s win over Spain though with just eight points on 2-of-8 shooting.

Spain was cold from deep in that game going just 3-for-15 and really has struggled with the 3-point shot so far in these Olympics, shooting it at just .314 percent. They are capable of much better though with players like Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez and Jose Calderon.

The strength of Spain comes on the inside though led by the Gasol brothers. Pau is leading the team averaging 18.8 points per game while Marc is averaging 12.2 points. They are also combining for 12.1 rebounds per game.

Spain had to get past a very tough French defense in the quarterfinal that may have served as a sort of wakeup call for them. Spain really turned up the intensity in the fourth quarter to come from behind to win while holding France to just six points in the final period.

Russia has some bodies to contend with Spain though in Timofey Mozgov and Victory Khryapa who have both been solid in the Olympics so far.

The X-factor for Russia will be guard Alexey Shved who has been good in the Olympics so far averaging 10.7 points and 5.5 assists per game but has uncharacteristically struggled with the 3-point shot shooting just .259 percent. Shved is a big time playmaker for this team though and will have to play big for Russia to win today.

Spain will need a bigger game from Navarro than what he’s shown in the Olympics so far. Navarro is a little banged up and looking older these days as his jumper and runner have been a little off in these games. He’s a big game player though and expect him to show up today.

Even though Russia beat Spain already, Spain is still the favorite to win here. They just have too much balance on their roster and the skilled size down low should help them prevail. Russia has made a habit of proving people wrong though and they will give another valiant effort today.

The U.S. most recently beat Argentina 119-86 in the final game of pool play. In that game, Team USA led just 60-59 at halftime before putting together an incredible third quarter as they pulled away for the blowout win.

Argentina is still fully capable of beating the U.S. though. Argentina got past Brazil 82-77 in the quarterfinal behind 17 points from Luis Scola and 16 from Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino.

Those three players will have to be big again against the U.S. if Argentina has plans to upset Team USA. Ginobili led Argentina with 16 points the last time they played the U.S. with 14 of those points coming in the first half.

Scola played just 18 minutes vs. the U.S. in that game and had 11 points. Delfino had 13 and was 2-of-7 shooting from three while Andres Nocioni had 12 and made 2-of-4 threes.

Argentina went 10-for-26 from three in that game and will have to do better today. The U.S. led by Kevin Durant’s eight threes, hit 20-of-39 in that game.

The case can be made that Argentina wouldn’t have benefitted from beating Team USA on that day and, as international teams often think, would rather save themselves to try and beat the U.S. in the game that matters today.

We can expect a spirited effort from Argentina in this one as they should play more of a complete game, unless the U.S. goes into that unbeatable mode they’ve shown a few times in these Olympics.

The game should be a chippy one as well. Argentina always seems to get under the skin of the U.S. and did again in the last game in particular when Facundo Campazzo gave Carmelo Anthony a little tap below the belt on his way down after shooting a three to end the third quarter.

Pablo Prigioni, Argentina’s starting point guard, did not play in the last game vs. Team USA either and will surely make a big difference for them today. Prigioni was instrumental in Argentina’s win over Brazil leading the team with six assists.

Durant emerged as the unfair player to contend with for Argentina in the last game scoring 28 points and making eight threes. We have seen multiple players step up in that role for the U.S. in these Olympics, whether it’s Durant, Anthony, LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, who made six threes in Team USA’s quarterfinal win over Australia.

Team USA’s reliance on the 3-point shot is one of the things that could lead to their downfall in this tournament. They are attempting 35.7 threes per game and making .449 percent of them but if they fall to a realistic percentage under 40, they could be vulnerable to being upset.

The U.S.’s continued struggling interior defense could also be an issue today, especially dealing with Scola who is averaging 19.7 points per game in the Olympics to lead Argentina. Team USA has been better lately with their defensive intensity and LeBron and Durant have been decent containing other teams’ bigs but Scola will again be a big challenge today.

The U.S. will be favored today and rightfully so. They have shown throughout these Olympics that despite some of their flaws, they are talented enough to beat anyone at any time. Their familiarity with Argentina should benefit the U.S. too as the element of surprise in a 40-minute game can sometimes be a big factor contributing to an upset.

The other semifinal game today will be between Russia and Spain at noon EST.

The United States is 6-0 so far in these Olympics winning games by an average margin of 37.3 points per game. They have been dominant but not perfect or without flaws.

The Team USA roster isn’t exactly the one envisioned by Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski. They are small without Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh or LaMarcus Aldridge and also missing a few other stars in Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose.

The only three bigs on the roster for Team USA are Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis. Chandler has been barely playing largely due to foul trouble, Love has emerged of late and Davis only sees the floor in garbage time.

It has resulted in a lot of Team USA’s players playing out of position, mainly LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony who are playing the four and five positions primarily.

We’ve seen a lot of different lineups and rotations so far from Coach K as he still sometimes seems to be looking for the right grouping of five guys.

Team USA has done fine despite this so far and has won games because of their superior depth and talent. Now in the semifinals and playing Argentina for the third time in as many weeks, and Spain or Russia looming as a gold medal matchup, the United States may need to shrink their rotation some and find their best lineup.

What is the best 5-man lineup for Team USA?

We know it’s not the starting five of Paul-Kobe-LeBron-Durant-Chandler. They’ve gotten off to a few slow starts and with Chandler barely playing and Kobe’s struggles, this surely hasn’t been their strongest group.

The first sub is always Anthony coming in for Chandler as Team USA immediately goes small. This isn’t their best lineup either because Kobe, who hasn’t gelled well with this team at all, is still out there.

It’s usually Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook who enter next for Paul and Kobe. Now we’re getting warmer. Williams is arguably the better international point guard than Paul and Westbrook has been an upgrade from Kobe in a lot of instances as well.

But Team USA is still pretty vulnerable inside when Anthony and Durant are out there together and it’s not as if they work so great together on offense either. You probably only need one of them on the floor at a time, simply to focus more on defense.

Love is the final piece here and next sub in. He usually comes for Durant or LeBron at this point but Team USA’s best lineup definitely involves Durant and LeBron on the floor together.

Of the lineups that have played a good amount of minutes together so far in these Olympics, Team USA’s best is Paul-Williams-LeBron-Durant-Love.

The combining of Paul and Williams works well and Paul simply is playing at a higher level than Westbrook right now, fitting in more with the team too. Love has been a beast on the glass of late too, really establishing himself as a force down low while LeBron and Durant are good enough to hold their own on bigger defenders as well.

That is the best lineup we will see from Team USA going forward. The challenge for Coach K will be seamlessly removing Kobe from the floor to go with a lineup like this in crunch time. It probably won’t happen and Kobe and/or Anthony will be on the floor instead of Williams or Love.

The best lineup for Team USA is perhaps one we will never see and is totally different from the identity they’ve shown so far in the Olympics. It involves and basically highlights Davis in at center.

Davis has been a monster in the little time he has played swatting shots like nothing and rebounding very well too. He has also really meshed with Paul and the other guards, rolling to the rim and finishing alley-oops.

Team USA would be at their best going Williams-LeBron-Anthony-Durant-Davis. They’d have plenty of size and could use Williams running the point as well as LeBron. This would free up LeBron a little more to get out and run on the wings, really maximizing the potential of Team USA’s transition game.

It’s fun to think about different lineups with Team USA and this one in particular, but we probably won’t see it at all, even if it might be their best look. Instead, Team USA will have to try and win gold not with, but despite someone like Kobe, while more deserving players in Love and Davis watch from the sidelines.

The United States did not come out looking their best but were very impressive in the fourth quarter, going on one of their signature runs outscoring Australia 35-16 in the period.

The U.S. took 46 threes in the game and made 19, which is the third-most 3-point makes they’ve had in a game in the Olympics.

Australia hung around due to another big game from point guard Patty Mills who scored 26 points and made four threes.

Here are the grades for each Team USA player:

LeBron James – 30 minutes, 11 points, 12 assists, 14 rebounds – A+

LeBron had maybe his best game of the Olympics so far getting the triple-double and doing a little bit of everything for Team USA. He has really played well in these past three games after coasting in the first three. His 12 assists ties Michael Jordan and a few others for the most ever in a U.S. Olympic basketball game.

Kevin Durant – 25 minutes, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals – B

Durant was mainly just a spot-up shooter in this game making 4-of-9 threes. Shooting 44 percent from three is fine but for Durant, it felt like he struggled. He missed a few shots driving and didn’t get to the line at all. His defense was better again getting two steals and some deflections as well.

Carmelo Anthony – 20 minutes, 17 points, 4 rebounds – B

Anthony played a pretty normal game for him. He was nothing special from deep going 2-of-7 and has really just become a guy who does nothing but try and score when the ball finds him. There’s nothing wrong with that because it’s his role on this team.

Kobe Bryant – 20 minutes, 20 points, 3 assists, 2 steals – B+

Kobe continued his awful play in the first half going 0-for-3 with zero points. You started to feel bad for him as it seemed he couldn’t do anything right. Then he really heated up in the second half, making six threes and finishing with 20 points. His threes come with a grain of salt though which requires him to take the 25-foot, contested heat check whenever he hits one or two. Team USA will need him at least making his jump shot going forward in the medal round.

Chris Paul – 27 minutes, 7 points, 3 assists, 4 steals – B

Paul didn’t do too much in this one partly because LeBron really dominated as the team’s distributor. Paul was only 1-for-4 from deep too and didn’t exactly lock up Australia’s guards on the other end the way he is capable of.

Deron Williams – 22 minutes, 18 points, 3 rebounds – A

Williams came up big in the first half for the U.S. scoring 13 points. Tonight he was the example of Team USA’s depth showing that they have so many players who can get it going scoring. With Paul not hitting his shot so much, it was nice for Williams to step up.

Russell Westbrook – 11 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist, 4 fouls – C

Westbrook got in foul trouble and didn’t play much. He was out of control for the most part again and not in any kind of rhythm. When he has space and can show off his athleticism, he is at his best and in the international game, there’s less room for him. The foul trouble limited his effectiveness in being one of Team USA’s best on-ball defenders.

Kevin Love – 21 minutes, 10 points, 11 rebounds – A

Love was great again and with Chandler not doing much, he is becoming very key for this team. His work on the glass was relentless as always but he did not hit any threes. He should continue to see more minutes especially if Team USA sees Spain in the gold medal game.

Tyson Chandler – 9 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds – C+

Chandler barely played again because of some foul trouble and was his usual self while on the floor. He caught a few nice lobs which were pretty but that’s about it.

Andre Iguodala – 8 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound – C+

Iguodala didn’t play much either which was a little surprising coming off a very good game vs. Argentina. He hit a three while he was in and probably would have played more if Williams didn’t have the hot hand or if Kobe never got going. Team USA’s defense wasn’t great again and having Iguodala on the floor would help that out some.

James Harden – 4 minutes, 7 points, 1 assist – A+

Harden couldn’t have been better in four minutes, finishing on the break with two highlight slams and making a stepback three as well. It would have been nice to see him get more minutes with this team but it’s just not going to happen except in blowouts.

Anthony Davis – 3 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds – C

Davis just played a few minutes in garbage time and went 0-for-3 from the field. Come on bro.

Leandro Barbosa made a 3-pointer with 1:46 remaining to cut Argentina’s lead to just three. Brazil had nothing else left in the tank though as Argentina made their free throws down the stretch and a few desperation threes did not fall.

Barbosa scored 22 points for Brazil and made four 3-pointers. Point guard Marcelinho Huertas came out firing for Brazil as well notching 22 points to go with four assists.

Luis Scola continued his strong play for Argentina leading them with 17 points. Carlos Delfino was on the mark with his jumper making three 3-pointers and totaling 16 points.

The game was controlled by the point guards and while Huertas finished with more points, Argentina’s Pablo Prigioni played big minutes for Argentina and led them with six assists. Prigioni did not play in Argentina’s last game when they lost to Team USA.

The game was close in almost every facet but where Brazil came up short was in taking advantage of their size. Nene had seven points and 12 rebounds, Tiago Splitter had just six points and Anderson Varejao four.

Brazil also shot only 50 percent from the free throw line and was outrebounded by Argentina.

Argentina advances to the semifinal round and will await the winner of the United States and Australia quarterfinal matchup today.

Team USA is heavily favored to win and if they do, will play Argentina for the third time in the past few weeks. The U.S. beat Argentina by six in an exhibition game before the Olympics then ran away in their last game of pool play vs. Argentina.

The winner of Argentina-Brazil will go on to play the winner of USA-Australia in the semifinal round on Friday.

Brazil is the 2-seed from Pool B and Argentina the 3-seed from Pool A in this matchup. Brazil lost to Russia in pool play then beat Spain in the final game of pool play in a game that no one wanted to win.

Argentina was upset by France early in pool play and then lost their final game of pool play vs. the U.S.

Each of these two South American teams has a large cast of NBA talent on their rosters. Argentina is led by Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino and Brazil Nene, Anderson Varejao and Leandro Barbosa.

Argentina has had more success in international play in the past, winning the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics and beating the United States in the process. Brazil is yet to have that kind of success but this may be their year as they are as talented as ever.

Both teams play a similar style reliant on the pick-and-roll game to get most of their offense. Brazil’s point guard Marcelinho Huertas is a magician in the pick-and-roll and combined with Brazil’s size advantage should have a nice game today.

Brazil will have trouble matching up with Ginobili and Argentina is the better outside shooting team, which they will need to rely on to win this one.

Scola has been a monster in the Olympics so far averaging 20.2 points per game to lead Argentina and he will need to be big vs. Brazil. Brazil has the bodies to contend with Scola but he is good enough to get them in some foul trouble and still have a big game.

If Argentina can get hot from deep it will open up the lane some where they can hurt Brazil with their great interior passing and Scola’s ability to finish with crafty shots in the paint.

Brazil would also like to shoot well from three and Barbosa is the most likely man to do it. He is shooting just .348 percent from three so far in the Olympics but is capable of a much better night at any time.

This game will be as good as any we’ve seen in the Olympics so far. It’s a rivalry with two teams who are playing pretty good basketball right now.

The edge in experience may go to Argentina but Brazil is more than capable of winning this one and it should go down to the wire.

The Spain-France quarterfinal meeting ended with a very dirty play by France’s Nicolas Batum. Batum was clearly frustrated and took out his anger on Spain’s Juan Carlos Navarro with this play with just seconds left in the game.

This is the kind of flagrant foul that would likely get you a 5-game suspension in the NBA. After the play, both teams had to be separated, Jose Calderon and Batum in particular got in each other’s faces.

It is kind of unclear why Batum acted this way. He normally has such a calm demeanor it’s hard to imagine him making a play like this. He did struggle from the field in the game going 3-for-12.

I asked Nicolas Batum why he hit Juan-Carlos Navarro in the groin. “I wanted to give him a good reason to flop,” Batum said.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) August 8, 2012

France in particular really struggled especially in the fourth quarter as they were held to just six points. The tougher, more physical team was going to come out on top in this one and Spain proved to be just that down the stretch.

Spain has not been playing their best as of late, losing two games in pool play to Russia and Brazil but perhaps have found their swagger with this win over France.

Spain will advance to the semifinal round where they will have their rematch vs. Russia who beat Lithuania in their quarterfinal matchup earlier today.

Told Batum some won’t think groin shot is in Olympic spirit. Batum: “Do you think if you lost a game on purpose, that’s the Olympic spirit?”

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) August 8, 2012

Spain trailed by two points heading into the fourth quarter before holding France to just six points in the final period as they came away with the win 66-59.

Marc Gasol led Spain with 14 points and nine rebounds while Pau had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Serge Ibaka had four points and five rebounds in limited time, but made an important impact on defense in the fourth.

Boris Diaw was magnificent for France with 15 points, five assists and eight rebounds while Tony Parker scored 15 points but on 6-of-20 shooting.

The game ended in chippy fashion with an uncharacteristic dirty foul laid on Juan Carlos Navarro by Nicolas Batum. With the game essentially in hand, Batum went at Navarro for an intentional foul and crossed the line, balling his fist and swinging below the belt on Navarro.

Batum was not tossed from the game and in fact remained on the floor. He likely would have received a 5-game suspension in the NBA. Batum was clearly frustrated but the move was very unexpected.

Spain shot 37.5 percent from the field while France was at just 33.8 percent. Spain again struggled from deep shooting 4-for-20. France made 4-of-8 threes to start the game but then made just 3-of-13 to end the game.

Spain has not been sharp in their last few games but rose to the occasion in the fourth really upping their defensive intensity to pull out the gritty win. They’ll take on Russia, who beat them in pool play, in the semifinal on Friday.

Team USA was played very close by Argentina in the first half and led by only one point at halftime.

Team USA came out much stronger in the third quarter and ran away with the game behind a spirited performance by LeBron James and Kevin Durant who combined for 26 points in the third quarter alone.

Durant scored 28 points in the game and made 8-of-10 threes including this one to beat the buzzer in the first quarter.

Durant’s defense in the third quarter was most impressive though. He was all over the floor making deflections and getting steals that led to a lot of offense for Team USA. Here he makes a nasty steal and LeBron finds rewards Durant with the sweet dish for a dunk on the fast break.

Russell Westbrook would put the finishing touches on this win with this ridiculous slam dunk over Argentina big man Leo Gutierrez. The dunk was reminiscent of what Vince Carter did 12 years ago in the Sydney Olympics vs. France.

Team USA begins play in the medal round today vs. Australia in the quarterfinals. The game will tip at 5:15 p.m. EST and will air on the NBC Sports Network.

Kirilenko had a signature-type of game for him doing a little bit of everything, facilitating quite the all-around game for Russia. He also had two assists, three steals and three blocks and shot 5-of-8 from the field to get his 19 points.

Russia led for most of the game and had it pretty much in hand in the second half but Lithuania started to fight back behind some hot 3-point shooting by Rimantas Kaukenas and Mantas Kalnietas.

Lithuania’s leading scorer, Linas Kleiza, struggled for much of this game scoring just four points on 1-of-7 shooting in the game.

Lithuania shot just 37.3 percent from the field in the game while Russia was much more efficient at 46.7 percent. Russia guard Alexey Shved, who will be playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves next year, had five assists in the game.

Victory Khryapa had a very impressive all-around game for Russia with 12 points, seven assists, six rebounds and two 3-pointers. Timofey Mozgov played big for Russia as well scoring 17 points.

Russia will now await the winner of Spain and France to see who they will play in the semifinal round. Russia beat Spain in pool play prompting Spain to throw their final game of pool play to get the 3-seed in this bracket and the more appetizing matchup vs. France.

Russia has been very impressive so far in the Olympics losing just one game on a last-second buzzer-beater to Australia. They will get their biggest test in their next game whether it’s against Spain who will be favored or France who has been playing at a high level as well.

The United States looked great in their first three games then were brought back down to reality after that. Their 83-point win over Nigeria may have made them relax a little too much and it showed in a lack of defensive intensity vs. Lithuania and in the first half vs. Argentina.

The U.S. would beat Argentina in their last game of pool play after leading 60-59 at half time. They came out in the second half a different team on defense, much more active with a lot of energy and blew out Argentina in the third quarter, 42-17.

Team USA’s last two games served as a wakeup call for them and we should see the more focused team that dominated Argentina in the second half going forward in the medal round.

Australia is led by San Antonio Spurs point guard Patty Mills who averaged 20.2 points per game in pool play. He has been a kind of one man show for Australia though and took a lot of shots to get those points.

Mills hit one of the biggest shots in Australian basketball history in their last game, drilling a buzzer-beating 3-pointer vs. Russia to give Australia the upset 82-80 win.

Beyond Mills, Australia will have a very tough time matching up with the U.S. They are without Andrew Bogut who suffered an injury last year in the NBA. They feature no other familiar NBA names on the roster.

Kevin Durant led Team USA in scoring in pool play averaging 18.6 points per game to go with 5.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists. He shot .606 percent from downtown as well including going 8-of-10 vs. Argentina.

Carmelo Anthony was second on the team averaging 17.4 points per game and shot .600 percent from three. Anthony was highlighted of course by his U.S. Olympic record 37-point performance vs. Nigeria.

LeBron James essentially coasted in Team USA’s first three games before turning it on in the last two. LeBron came alive late vs. Lithuania, scoring nine of Team USA’s final 12 points to finish with 20. LeBron then scored 18 vs. Argentina and had a huge third quarter.

The likes of Durant, Anthony and LeBron will be impossible for Australia to match up with. Team USA should do a very good job containing Mills as well with Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook.

Australia has surprised somewhat in the Olympics so far so don’t expect them to roll over and die. They will fight hard against the U.S. but it’s hard to imagine it mattering much at all.

If the U.S. wins, they will play the winner of Argentina and Brazil who play before them at 3:00 p.m. EST.

The U.S. was challenged in the first half vs. Argentina and only led 60-59 at halftime. Then in the third quarter Team USA came out a different team especially on the defensive side of the ball and outscored Argentina 42-17 in the third alone.

LeBron James and Kevin Durant led the United States in that period. LeBron became more assertive on offense scoring nine quick points then Durant took over, reigning in the threes for 17 points to get him to his game-high 28.

“Anybody in their right mind, when [Durant] gets to shooting the ball like that, there’s only one play,” Chris Paul told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “Get the ball to him.”

Durant has definitely stood out in the Olympics so far averaging 18.6 points per game to lead Team USA while shooting .606 percent from downtown. But has he been Team USA’s MVP so far? There are a few other players who’d like to make their case.

LeBron James – 11.6 PPG, 4.4 APG, 3.4 RPG (61 FG%, 33 3PT%, 80 FT%)

LeBron hasn’t had to do much for Team USA thus far in the Olympics. But in the last two games against Lithuania and Argentina he stepped up and made his presence known as one of the leaders of this team. He scored nine of Team USA’s final 12 points vs. Lithuania as they won that game 99-95 and he led a spirited third quarter charge vs. Argentina. Through pool play though he hasn’t consistently been Team USA’s best player, even though that was probably by choice. We can definitely expect LeBron to continue to step up once the medal round starts though.

Carmelo Anthony – 17.4 PPG, 0.8 APG, 4.6 RPG (59 FG%, 60 3PT%, 80 FT%)

Anthony had the biggest game of the Olympics so far during Team USA’s 83-point blowout vs. Nigeria, he set a U.S. Olympic record with 37 points and went 10-of-12 from deep in the game. Anthony has been great in his instant offense role off the bench and hasn’t been shy about jacking up shots. Anthony wasn’t on the floor late vs. Lithuania though because of his defense. On this team he has been asked to guard bigger players and hasn’t exactly done the best job. He’s been pretty one-dimensional for Team USA and that’s why he isn’t their MVP so far.

Chris Paul – 7.6 PPG, 5.8 APG, 3.0 RPG (52 FG%, 47 3PT%, 0 FT%)

Paul has gone under the radar for the most part in these Olympics but really played well in Team USA’s last two games which were so close. There was a belief before the Olympics began that maybe Deron Williams was the better international point guard for this team but Paul has definitely separated from him. He’s shooting great from 3-point land as well and has come up big in some clutch moments. But it hasn’t been enough to outshine the MVP of Team USA so far…

Kevin Durant – 18.6 PPG, 3.8 APG, 5.6 RPG (52 FG%, 61 3PT%, 88 FT%)

It’s close but Durant is my pick for the MVP of Team USA in pool play. He has been the most consistent scorer and his 3-point shooting has been off the charts even for him. The 3-point shooting is magnified even more because of Team USA’s reliance on the shot. His defense has been pretty good too, especially in the third quarter vs. Argentina when he was all over the floor making deflections left and right. Durant’s length has really bothered Team USA’s opponents making him just fine to have on the floor late as a reliable defender. If not for LeBron’s chill play in the first few games, maybe he would have emerged as Team USA’s MVP so far but you can’t overlook how Durant has played so far.

No one wanted to win that game despite what the players had to say.

“No. Never,” Spain point guard Jose Calderon told ESPN.com when asked if Spain wanted to lose. “This is not our team, this is not the way we play, this is not the way. We’ve been together since I don’t know how many years, and we always play to win. Always.”

By the time the game was ready to start, it was known exactly who each team would play if they won or lost. The winner would move on as the 2-seed to a bracket that included Team USA as the 1-seed and Argentina as the 3-seed. The loser went to the side with Russia as the 1-seed and France as the 2-seed.

It’s not hard to see which bracket was more desirable to be in.

Before the game began it was announced that Brazil’s starting center Nene would sit out the game with plantar fasciitis. In a must-win game, Nene never would have missed a game vs. Spain especially because Brazil would need all the help they could get on the frontline.

Spain responded to Nene’s absence by playing their big guns few minutes. Pau Gasol played 24 minutes and Marc Gasol played 25. The brothers combined to score 45 points on 16-of-21 shooting.

Spain led 66-57 after three quarters but then was outscored 31-16 in the fourth to ultimately lose 88-82.

Rudy Fernandez only played 15 minutes and missed his only shot attempt. Jose Calderon played just 14 minutes while Serge Ibaka, who hadn’t been playing much all Olympics, logged 21 minutes and scored 14 points with six rebounds and three blocks.

Leandro Barbosa would lead Brazil with 23 points before sitting during the final minutes.

The game was clearly trying to be lost and by both teams. That’s not exactly what Olympic competition is all about right? Maybe it is.

The goal is to win a gold medal. Losing this game has put Spain in a better position to do so. It’s no guarantee or anything but there’s no question that Russia/France is weaker competition than USA/Argentina.

The problem, if there is one, is with the system or the amount of competition out there. There is a clear-cut difference in talent between Argentina and France despite France beating Argentina in pool play. Spain would never choose to play Argentina instead of France if they could, not to mention try and avoid the U.S. at all costs.

There is no real incentive to acquire a higher seed either because there’s no homecourt advantage. This will of course never be the case in the Olympics and this is really what we get with pool play.

Pool play is fair because it fairly seeds teams but since it is not a straight up elimination tournament, tanking will sometimes be beneficial. The only way to stop this would be to change the system.

Until then, Spain played it smart and Brazil will be left shaking their heads in the coming days as they try and get past Argentina and the U.S. to make it to a gold medal game.

The United States as expected went 5-0 in their pool and will move into the medal round as the favorites to bring home gold. They were extremely impressive in some games then stumbled more recently.

The surprise of pool play was Spain losing two games and finishing as the 3-seed from Pool B. They pretty much threw their final game vs. Brazil though so as to avoid Team USA until a potential gold medal game.

Here is the schedule of the medal round:

Quarterfinals – Wednesday, Aug. 8

B1 Russia (4-1) vs. A4 Lithuania (2-3) – 9:00 a.m. EST

Russia was the surprise team of the Olympics starting out 4-0 and beating Brazil and Spain in the process. Led by Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved they earned the top seed in their pool despite losing to Australia on a last-second buzzer-beater by Patty Mills. Lithuania was a little bit of a disappointment but did play Team USA very close. This game should be a close one but Russia has earned the right to be favored and picked to win.

A2 France (4-1) vs. B3 Spain (3-2) – 11:15 a.m. EST

After losing their first game of pool play vs. Team USA, France won their next four to earn the 2-seed from the pool, including a big upset win over Argentina in the process. France is led by some NBA talent, most notably Tony Parker, and should give Spain a good game here. Spain is the favorite in this matchup despite being the lower seed. They wanted to lose their final game vs. Brazil to get this seed and it was smart because now they avoid Team USA and Argentina. Spain is much more balanced and will have a huge advantage inside with the Gasol brothers which should be too much for France to handle. But expect a big game from Parker who will be tough for Spain to stop with their guards.

B2 Brazil (4-1) vs. A3 Argentina (3-2) – 3:00 p.m. EST

Brazil didn’t want to lose as bad as Spain did and now draws Argentina and possibly the U.S. if they win here. Brazil has a little more size than Argentina and a great backcourt in Marcelinho Huertas and Leandro Barbosa. Argentina will have the best player on the floor and maybe the second best in Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola. Argentina has been less consistent than usual in these Olympics but expect them to turn it on a little more now that we’re in the medal round. The edge goes to Argentina here in a close one.

A1 USA (5-0) vs. B4 Australia (3-2) – 5:15 p.m. EST

Team USA should have no trouble disposing of Australia here, who is probably the weakest team that advanced to the medal round. They will be a pesky opponent though that won’t back down led by their point guard Mills. They haven’t showed enough in pool play to be taken seriously against the U.S. Team USA has been lax of late but finally got their act together in the second half of their last game vs. Argentina. They really turned up the defense and looked like the gold medal favorites they should be. The tough tests will resume for Team USA after they beat Australia.

Semifinals – Friday, Aug. 10

Winner of France/Spain vs. Winner of Russia/Lithuania – 12:00 p.m. EST
Winner of Brazil/Argentina vs. Winner of USA/Australia – 4:00 p.m. EST

Finals – Sunday, Aug. 12

Bronze Medal Game – 3:00 a.m. EST
Gold Medal Game – 10:00 a.m. EST

The U.S. led by just one at halftime 60-59 as Argentina was doing a lot of what Lithuania did to the U.S. in the first half.

Manu Ginobili was on a tear scoring 16 points on just five shots as Argentina shot 56 percent from the field.

In the third quarter, Team USA came out a different team especially on the defensive side of the ball. LeBron James had a look in his eye scoring nine quick points then Kevin Durant took over.

Durant hit five threes in the third quarter and scored 17 points as the U.S. outscored Argentina 42-17 as a team. Durant capped off his memorable third quarter performance with a three from about 32-feet that was very reminiscent of Rucker Park.

Team USA again looked vulnerable at times but when they turned it on in the second half they showed why they are the team to beat in these Olympics.

Here are the grades:

LeBron James – 21 minutes, 18 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds – A

LeBron was quiet in the first half as not a lot of the offense was running through him but he really asserted himself in the third quarter. He has taken over when he has needed to for this team in these Olympics and did it again today. He had to sit though midway through the third after picking up his fourth foul. He got called on a few really bad fouls in the game.

Kevin Durant – 22 minutes, 28 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals – A

Durant was magnificent in the third quarter not only by hitting five treys but on the defensive end he was as active as he ever has been. That led to a lot of Team USA’s offense as they pulled away. Durant wasn’t too bad in the first half either scoring 11 points and hitting three 3-pointers. Durant’s shooting performance in the third quarter may have been more impressive than what Carmelo Anthony did vs. Nigeria.

Carmelo Anthony – 13 minutes, 5 points, 5 rebounds – C

Anthony didn’t have it tonight going just 1-for-6 from the field but his one make was a big three to end the third. He got a little cheap shot from Argentina point guard Campazzo after making the trey he was hit below the belt and it started a little scrum between the two teams.

Kobe Bryant – 21 minutes, 11 points, 1 assist – C-

Kobe just seems to not fit in much with this team. He randomly started pushing the ball down the court out of control twice in the third quarter and it just felt weird. He shot 3-of-10 in the game and is still struggling with the different ball it seems. The fact that he’s probably going to be on the court in crunch time of a close game may not be a good thing for Team USA going forward.

Chris Paul – 25 minutes, 17 points, 6 assists, 3 steals – A

Paul was great in the first half hitting four threes and did his job pretty much perfectly the rest of the game too. You can’t hardly ever complain about Paul and when he is making threes he is just that much better. He really hounded Campazzo on defense too who had to play most of the game with Prigionni missing the game with an injury.

Deron Williams – 15 minutes, 5 points, 3 assists – C

Nothing special from Williams tonight as he was 2-for-7 from the field. Paul played much better and got the bulk of the minutes. Team USA will need Williams to step up and shoot better from three as the games continue.

Russell Westbrook – 19 minutes, 4 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds – B-

He would receive a C grade if not for his nasty dunk in the fourth quarter. Westbrook was out of control for the most part again going 1-for-8 from the field but his dunk was such a perfect exclamation mark on the game. His defense against Argentina’s weak guards was pretty good too.

Kevin Love – 15 minutes, 13 points, 9 rebounds – B+

Love quietly had a very nice game for Team USA going 5-for-7 from the field and grabbing four offensive boards as well. His confidence has grown of late and he is becoming a more integral part of this team which is good with Tyson Chandler not playing all that well.

Tyson Chandler – 12 minutes, 3 points, 5 rebounds – B

Chandler wasn’t as bad as he has been lately in this one and was the only real defensive presence for Team USA in the first half. The defense Team USA played in the second half showed why they won’t need to rely on Chandler to play a lot of minutes in the future. Chandler was in foul trouble again though and mostly takes up space on offense.

Andre Iguodala – 20 minutes, 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists – A

Iguodala played his role perfectly today. He got some scoring on not a lot of shots, always made the right pass and rebounded. When he plays like this he will get minutes and deservedly so.

James Harden – 9 minutes, 7 points – C+

Harden didn’t play until garbage time in this one and was fine while he was out there. He hit 1-of-2 threes and went 3-for-5 from the field.

Anthony Davis – 8 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block – C+

Davis also didn’t play until garbage time and had less alley-oop dunks than usual.

Things got chippy between Team USA and Argentina at the end of the third quarter then Russell Westbrook did this.

Westbrook might be the most exuberant dunker in the NBA and against Argentina gave us the best one of the 2012 London Olympics so far.

It was a dunk that was reminiscent of what Vince Carter did 12 years ago vs. France. Same kind of takeoff, almost the same kind of poster. The Argentina defender was just a little smarter.

The U.S. led 60-59 at halftime then really turned up the intensity in the third quarter and outscored Argentina 42-17 in the period. LeBron James got things started scoring nine quick points then Kevin Durant took over with 17 points and five threes in the quarter.

Team USA has played a little sloppy on defense the past few games. Perhaps they became to lax after their easy victories over Tunisia and Nigeria but they definitely looked better in the second half vs. Argentna.

The U.S. will finish pool play undefeated at 5-0 as the 1-seed and will see Australia in the quarterfinals of the medal round beginning Wednesday. Brazil and Argentina will be the 2- and 3-seeds in their bracket. The 1-4 seeds in the other bracket will be Russia, France, Spain and Lithuania in that order.

It was very clear no one really wanted to win this game. The loser would avoid the United States and Argentina until a potential gold medal game.

Spain led 66-57 after three quarters and then was outscored 31-16 in the fourth. Pau Gasol played just 24 minutes and had 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Marc Gasol played 25 minutes and had 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Rudy Fernandez only played 15 minutes and missed his only shot of the game and Jose Calderon played only 14 minutes.

On Brazil’s side, Nene did not play but the rest of their NBA players played close to normal minutes.

Leandro Barbosa led Brazil with 23 points in the game and went 2-of-2 from three. Brazil was 8-for-17 on threes in the game and Spain struggled again going just 4-for-13 from beyond the arc.

Serge Ibaka came off the bench for Spain and played 21 minutes, scoring 14 points to go with six rebounds and three blocks.

The matchups for the medal round are basically set now unless Argentina blows out Team USA by 35-plus points. Spain will be the 3-seed playing France in the quarterfinal. Brazil will be the 2-seed and play Argentina on the other side of the bracket.

Team USA will play 4-seed Australia and 1-seed Russia will play Lithuania.

LeBron James scored nine of Team USA’s final 12 points as the United States passed the tough test Lithuania provided them in pool play, winning 99-94.

Team USA improved to 4-0 with the win and takes on Argentina today looking to win the pool with a perfect 5-0 record.

LeBron was quiet in the first three games of the Olympics for Team USA but stepped up when they needed him most in the fourth quarter vs. Lithuania. He finished with 20 points in the game but didn’t record an assist.

LeBron basically let know that he is still around as the best player in the world. He had an opportunity to pass to Kevin Durant on one of his late isolations and instead elected to keep the ball and play to score himself.

It was somewhat unlike LeBron to do this and the message was clear. He wasn’t going to let a team like Lithuania upset the U.S., especially looking across the court and who was matched up with him personally.

The games will continue to get tougher for Team USA as we near the medal round and it will start with a very strong Argentina squad this afternoon. LeBron will likely have to play more like how he did vs. Lithuania than in the first three games for the U.S. to keep winning.

Kobe will go down as one of the most decorated NBA players of all-time, already having won five NBA titles and potentially in the hunt to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the league’s all-time leading scorer.

When Kobe’s playing days in the NBA are over, his playing days in general may not be.

“It would be natural for me to go do it,” Kobe told Yahoo! Sports when asked if he would consider playing overseas when his NBA career was done. “It wouldn’t be a stretch at all. I grew up here.”

Kobe grew up living in Italy while his father, Joe Bryant, played in the Italian league. Kobe’s favorite player growing up was Mike D’Antoni who was the reason why Kobe wore No. 8 with the Lakers to begin his career.

“You’d have to look at the market and what’s going on in terms of the level of basketball being played,” Kobe said. “I understand there’s a high level of competitive basketball in Turkey now. They might have the best league in Europe. Spain has obviously been one of the top leagues for a long time. And Italy is a place that’s dear in my heart, I grew up there, but the level is not where it used to be. When I was growing up over there, that was the best league in Europe.”

The level of play in other countries is something that has been increasing ever since the 1992 Dream Team dominated the Olympic basketball field in Barcelona. Players like Deron Williams, Stephon Marbury and Josh Childress have spent some time playing professionally in other countries.

Kobe doing this, who seems to be such a citizen of the world, doesn’t seem that farfetched at all.

We know he loves basketball more than anything in the world and he will stay involved in it somehow after his NBA career. If he can still compete at a high level in these other leagues into his 40’s, possibly picking up a few championships along the way, doesn’t that sound just like Kobe?

Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

Who wants to lose more?

Spain and Brazil will play today at 3 p.m. EST and neither team will be better off winning the game.

The winner of the game will come out of Pool B as the 2-seed in the same bracket where Team USA will likely be the 1-seed and Argentina the 3-seed. The loser will get to be in the bracket where Russia and France are the top seeds.

This game will be very interesting and don’t be surprised if players like Pau Gasol or Leandro Barbosa aren’t playing as many minutes as they could.

Spain and Brazil are both 3-1 in pool play so far with both losing close games to Russia. Spain and Brazil are two of the biggest threats to the United States in these Olympics and would both love to not see the mighty U.S. until a potential gold medal game.

A big reason why these teams matchup so well with Team USA is that they both have NBA size. Spain featured the Gasol brothers as well as Serge Ibaka and Felipe Reyes. Brazil has Nene, Anderson Varejao and Tiago Splitter in their corner.

The point guard position is a strength for both Spain and Brazil as well. Spain starts Jose Calderon and brings Juan Carlos Navarro off the bench. Brazil has maybe the best point guard not in the NBA in Marcelinho Huertas who is averaging 11.0 points and 6.2 assists per game in the Olympics.

This matchup is a very close one that is only hard to predict today because both teams could very well be trying to lose. If they both were trying to win however, Spain has to have the slight edge but it is real close.

Pau Gasol is averaging 19.5 points per game so far in the Olympics and looks very comfortable in his clear alpha dog role with Spain. Rudy Fernandez has played pretty well too averaging 10.8 points per game and Spain is just a little more balanced and experienced than Brazil.

Barbosa is leading Brazil averaging 13.0 points per game while Splitter is averaging 12.0. They don’t have quite the same outside shooting ability that Spain does which could very well be the difference in this matchup.

It’s kind of hard to say what to expect with this game later today. The Olympics are all about competition but we might not see that exactly today with this game. Ultimately every team wants to win a gold medal and if losing first betters those chances than there really shouldn’t be anything wrong with that.

The U.S. is undefeated at 4-0 in pool play after most recently beating Lithuania 99-94 in what was a very closely contested game.

Argentina was the favorite to come out of Pool A as the two seed but unexpectedly lost to France a few days back and is now more than likely going to come out as the three seed, unless they are able to upset the United States today.

Argentina will serve as the toughest test yet for Team USA. They are very experienced and feature some of the best international talent in these Olympics with Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino.

Ginobili has been playing at a very high level for Argentina in pool play averaging 21.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. Ginobili is a tough cover for anyone including the U.S. and he will have to have a big all-around game for Argentina to pull off the upset.

Scola is leading the team in scoring at 22.5 points per game and will have a nice matchup vs. Team USA. Scola essentially starts at center for Argentina and the slower Tyson Chandler will have a lot of trouble covering him off the dribble.

Scola will see a lot of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony too, all of which have struggled somewhat with their interior defense in the Olympics.

Team USA’s close win vs. Lithuania will serve as a wakeup call for the team, mostly on the defensive end of the floor. Lithuania got a lot of easy looks at the rim vs. the United States and shot 58.5 percent from the field for the game.

Lithuania executed their offense very nicely and was not intimidated at all playing Team USA. Argentina will present a similar challenge to Team USA except with more talent.

Playing small lineups finally caught up with the United States vs. Lithuania as LeBron, Durant and Anthony, who are less experienced playing defense down low, were exposed.

Team USA, who was coming off a record-setting game vs. Nigeria in which they made 29 3-pointers, was trigger-happy from downtown again vs. Lithuania but did not have the same success. They made just 10-of-33 threes and struggled from the free throw line as well making just 19-of-31 shots.

LeBron was the one who stepped up at the end of the game and saved the day for the U.S. vs. Lithuania. He scored nine of their last 12 points and finished with 20 in the game. The United States will need more than just a late push by LeBron to keep winning in these Olympics.

Durant has turned into more of just a spot-up shooter of late for Team USA and will be needed to do a lot more for them to get past tough tests such as Argentina. He scored 16 vs. Lithuania but may be needed to get up over 20 in a close game today.

If Argentina wins, there will be a tie atop Pool A with Argentina, Team USA and France. Team USA could end up finishing second in the pool via the tiebreaker if they lose.

We can expect a better effort from Team USA on defense today and that really should be enough for them to get by Argentina. It will be another close game though and we have seen why the United States are a team that is beatable.

Patty Milles made this buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift Australia past Russia 82-80 in the final game of pool play. Mills finished with just 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting but may have hit the biggest shot in Australian basketball history.

Australia will finish pool play with a 3-2 record which will be good enough to advance to the medal round as the 4-seed and likely play the United States in their next game.

Despite the loss Russia will come out of Pool B as the 1-seed since they have beaten both Spain and Brazil, the only teams with a chance to finish pool play with the same record as them.

Andrei Kirilenko scored 13 points for Russia and Alexey Shved also had 13. Russia was the surprise of Olympic basketball so far after beating Spain but now may look like a team that has some weakness.

If Team USA beats Argentina today then Russia will be the 1-seed and avoid seeing the U.S. until a potential gold medal game. France will become the 2-seed on their side and the loser of Spain-Brazil will be the 3-seed. Lithuania will be the 4-seed.

It will be interesting to watch later today in the game between Spain and Brazil which team wants to lose more. The loser will avoid Team USA until the gold medal game and will also avoid Argentina as well.

The scouting report for Team USA is that they are not a very big team that likes to shoot a lot of 3-pointers. There are teams out there that can make life difficult for Team USA and maybe even pull off the unlikely upset.

Here is a look at the five teams with the best shot of doing so:

5. France (3-1)

Team USA easily beat France 98-71 in their opening game of the Olympics. There’s probably not five teams that have a chance to beat Team USA either. Since that opening game loss to the U.S., France has not lost and they should end up with the two seed in their pool. That means they can avoid Team USA until a potential gold medal game where anything could happen. France still has plenty of NBA talent and a point guard in Tony Parker who could have a monster game vs. Team USA in a rematch. But it is still very unlikely France could pull off the upset, or even see the United States again.

4. Brazil (2-2)

Brazil played the U.S. as tough as anyone before the Olympics started in an exhibition. They have great size in Nene, Anderson Varejao and Tiago Splitter and a fantastic point guard in Marcelinho Huertas. In a one game situation, Brazil definitely has the tools to pull off the upset vs. the U.S. Brazil and Spain will play their final game of pool play to determine the two seed of their pool. Whoever gets the two will possibly play Team USA in the semifinal of the medal round otherwise they would avoid them until the gold medal game if they get the three seed.

3. Russia (4-0)

Russia has been the surprise of the Olympics so far although they were definitely underrated coming in. They are undefeated and have wrapped up Pool B after upsetting Spain in their last game. Andrei Kirilenko is playing some of the best basketball of his career and Russia has a cast of guys with enough European flow to their game to possibly surprise the U.S. in an upset. Russia will also not see Team USA until a potential gold medal game where both teams would more than likely have to be undefeated at that point. Russia is fairly weak in their backcourt which would make it very hard for them to beat the U.S.

2. Argentina (3-1)

Argentina was upset by France in pool play and will play its final game of pool play vs. the United States on Monday. Team USA beat Argentina by six in an exhibition game before the Olympics but Argentina definitely showed that beating the U.S. is possible. Team USA’s defense has looked fairly weak of late and players like Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola could really slice it up. Argentina isn’t the biggest team though so Team USA won’t have the toughest time matching up with them even when they go small. Argentina is not scared at all of the U.S. and will likely have to see them in the semifinal of the medal round if they get there.

1. Spain (3-1)

Spain made a big stumble losing to Russia and losing their pool. Now they will have to see Team USA in the semifinal of the medal round unless they throw the Brazil game (which might happen). Spain has and still is the biggest threat to Team USA despite being upset by Russia. No international team has the balance and size upfront that Spain has. They also have very experienced guards and good enough shooting to pull off a big time 3-point shooting night which is very necessary to upset Team USA. Spain-USA will be the marquee matchup of the Olympics if we get to see it and if there will ever be a time for Team USA to lose, it will come vs. Spain.

Team USA had their first legitimate scare of the Olympic so far as Lithuania led the game in the fourth quarter with seven minutes to play.

The United States were coming off an 83-point victory vs. Nigeria two days ago and perhaps them not be challenged so far in the Olympics had something to do with this game being so close.

Now that the games are starting to get serious for Team USA, it’s time to seriously grade each player for them:

LeBron James – 35 minutes, 20 points, 5 rebounds, 0 assists – A

LeBron was quiet early in this one very much like he has been all Olympics so far. He hasn’t been needed to do much for Team USA so far but really stepped up in the fourth quarter vs. Lithuania. LeBron scored nine of Team USA’s final 12 points effectively shutting the door on any hopes Lithuania had of pulling off the upset. LeBron surprisingly didn’t have an assist in the game but that may have had a lot to do with the U.S. shooting so poorly from three in the game.

Kevin Durant – 28 minutes, 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists – C+

This wasn’t Durant’s best game and we are seeing him turn into more of a one-dimensional player on this team, becoming just a catch-and-shoot guy from behind the 3-point line. There’s not a lot wrong with that as he made 4-of-7 threes vs. Lithuania but he has kind of struggled scoring in other areas. Durant also was taken advantage of inside a few times by Lithuania and since he is being asked to play a lot of power forwards and centers that is not a good thing.

Carmelo Anthony – 25 minutes, 20 points, 3 rebounds – B

Anthony was coming off a fantastic game against Nigeria in which he set a U.S. Olympic record with 37 points and made 10-of-12 threes in the process. Anthony continued his hot shooting early in this one but then cooled off later. Much like Durant, Anthony has struggled with his defense inside and it was a weakness of this team that Lithuania revealed in this game. Overall it would be nice to see Anthony as committed on defense as he is on offense to get a better grade.

Kobe Bryant – 20 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist – C

Kobe really struggled shooting in this one going just 1-of-7 from the field and didn’t play very well on defense either. He often bit on pump fakes by Lithuania players at the 3-point line leaving the rest of the defense at a disadvantage. Sometimes Kobe just seems to not really fit in with this team being the old man of the group and the ball of course almost always stops when he gets his hands on it.

Chris Paul – 28 minutes, 7 points, 6 assists, 4 steals – A-

Paul was pretty good in this game and very good late. He was one of the most clutch players in the NBA last season and when he has the ball in his hands late with this team, good things always happen. He made a great play in transition late to find Durant for an easy dunk. He struggled a little from the field and was 1-for-4 on threes but other than that was great.

Deron Williams – 23 minutes, 12 points, 2 assists – B

Williams wasn’t the most efficient in this game ever but the 12 points he did contribute despite needing 12 shots to get them were valuable. With Team USA settling for so many threes in these Olympics, Williams is always a good guy to have on the floor and he made a pair of treys in this one.

Russell Westbrook – 14 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds – C

Westbrook was out of control and out of rhythm even more so than usual against Lithuania. Not being able to roam freely all over the floor like he does in OKC has made him very much less effective in the Olympics. He made some bad decisions on offense and defense in this one and really can play a lot better for this team. His strengths were not taken advantage of in this game and it made up seem like kind of a waste when he was in.

Kevin Love – 12 minutes, 7 points, 8 rebounds – C

Love really struggled from the free throw line going 3-of-8 and seems to not be in love with the FIBA basketball. He works so hard though and led the team with eight boards. Team USA needed him too in this one being one of the only actual big men on the roster. For Team USA to win gold and beat teams like Argentina and Spain, Love will have to play well and give them a little more than he did today.

Tyson Chandler – 8 minutes, 1 point, 1 rebound – D

Chandler has done very little for this team so far in the Olympics and hasn’t seen a lot of playing time despite starting every game. He went 1-for-4 from the free throw line in this one which makes him a liability to have on the floor on offense. Coach K has elected to go with smaller lineups and sacrifice the interior defense that he provides because of this. It would be nice to see him playing better and getting more minutes because Team USA may need him especially if they play Spain in the medal round.

James Harden – 4 minutes, 3 points, 1 steal – B

Harden barely played in this one and did make one very good play in his short time on the floor, making a steal and finishing at the rim with an and-1 layup. He won’t get a ton of minutes in close games for Team USA especially with him shooting not so great from three so far in the Olympics. He missed his only 3-point shot attempt today.

Andre Iguodala – 3 minutes, 1 rebound, 3 fouls – D

Iguodala got in early but picked up three very quick fouls and never came back in. Coach K likes him and will continue to use him in some spots. Team USA honestly could have used him more in this one since he is one of their best defenders on the perimeter and a good rebounder. Nothing much more to say about him vs. Lithuania though.

Then LeBron James took over.

With the U.S. leading 87-86, LeBron hit a 3-pointer to put Team USA ahead 90-86 with 3:58 to play. LeBron would score nine of the final 12 points of the game for Team USA as they survived a very serious scare by Lithuania to win 99-94.

LeBron finished with 20 points in the game but uncharacteristically had zero assists. That was due to Team USA struggling with their 3-point shot going just 10-for-33, just one game removed from their record-setting 29-for-46 performance from downtown vs. Nigeria.

LeBron will make us forget about all of the things Team USA did wrong in this game. He took over when he needed to and reminded us why he is the best player in the game right now. But what Lithuania did isn’t going to be an anomaly, Team USA is vulnerable to a team who plays the way they did today and it could happen again.

Lithuania shot 58.5 percent from the field in the game. Team USA has been playing lineups with LeBron, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony at the four and five positions and that makes them very weak with their interior defense and Lithuania took advantage.

Lithuania is a proud country and was not scared of the U.S. and this is what we saw today. Perhaps Team USA was a little too relaxed coming off two very dominant wins and has not practiced much in the last few days either but they are ultimately a team that is very beatable.

Durant scored 16 points in the game and made four threes but was just 1-for-5 on 2-point shots, an area where he has really kind of struggled in these Olympics.

Russell Westbrook didn’t play his best either scoring seven points and pressing too much with the ball in his hands.

Anthony who was coming off his U.S. Olympic record of 37 points vs. Nigeria came out hot again in this one then cooled down finishing with 20 points and going 2-of-6 from three.

The United States will have one more game to win to wrap up pool play and finish as the top seed from Pool A. They play Argentina Monday which will be the most talented team they have yet to play in the Olympics so far.

This game against Lithuania will serve as a wakeup call for Team USA. We can expect better defensive intensity and fundamentals against Argentina and they should still win.

Team USA will not walk their way to a gold medal. They will have to play very good basketball from this point on beginning with Argentina Monday.

This has yet to matter though as Team USA is 3-0 so far in Olympic play most recently dominating Nigeria to the fullest with an 83-point victory.

Team USA makes up for its lack of size with superior talent. In particular with three players, that are playing somewhat out of position than we’re used to seeing them in the NBA.

Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have each assumed roles with this team where they are playing power forward and sometimes center. This is something that became necessary for Mike Krzyzewski to do once the likes of Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh weren’t going to be on the team and it has worked our just fine.

Playing the four isn’t a totally foreign concept for these three. In fact, you could argue that their NBA teams were most successful when each of these players played the four for them.

A big reason why the Miami Heat won the NBA title this season was because they went to a smaller lineup after Bosh got injured that featured LeBron at the four. It worked so well without Bosh that when he returned at the end of the Eastern Conference Finals, head coach Erik Spoelstra stuck with it all the way through the NBA Finals.

LeBron morphed into a version of Larry Bird using his distributor skills from the low block and posing mismatch problems even more so than usual with his new position.

While not as dramatic as LeBron changing positions, many argue that the Thunder are at their best when Durant plays the four. He stretches the floor as well as anyone in the league and has the length to contend with taller players inside.

The Thunder become more of an up-and-down team when he plays the four and Serge Ibaka is next to him at the five. They give up more on the defensive end with this lineup but their offense takes on a new form that is almost impossible to truly matchup with.

The Knicks too experienced some of their best success last season with Anthony at the four while Amare Stoudemire was out of the lineup. Anthony has showed in the past in the Olympics his ability to play the four and is doing it again this summer as he just set a U.S. Olympic record with 37 points vs. Nigeria.

This is what the future of the NBA will be. There was a time when teams liked their bigger lineups, ones that might prefer Anthony Mason or Robert Horry at the three. That was the 1990’s and the game is different now and perhaps ready to take an even more dramatic step forward in terms of positions.

There are more skilled athletes than ever in the NBA today. Players like LeBron and Durant are the best in the league largely because of what they can do with a basketball despite their huge frames.

Pat Riley has come out and said that the Heat will not necessarily be looking for a center for next season despite that being one of the obvious holes of their roster. They are committed to sticking with what worked last season in moving LeBron to the low block.

The Knicks too are considering this with their head coach Mike Woodson recently discussing smaller lineups with Ronnie Brewer.

The Thunder became more versatile this year with some of the pickups they made. Two new players that will likely crack their rotation this year are Eric Maynor who was injured last season after playing only nine games and rookie Perry Jones.

Jones matches the future direction of the NBA as well as anyone. Once he would have been considered a soft big who didn’t rebound enough or score enough from the block. Now he is a matchup nightmare because of his versatility. And lined up next to Durant will give the Thunder something that will be just about impossible for any team to match up with.

We will continue to try and find something about this 2012 U.S. Olympic team that will make them beatable. Spain and Brazil’s size is the one thing that looks like could give Team USA trouble.

But maybe that’s not the case at all. Maybe Team USA is better off with this lineup, becoming more versatile and being able to play the brand of basketball that will be displayed for years to come in the NBA.

Basketball is always evolving and Durant, LeBron and Melo are the next evolution.

Russia proved today that they need to be taken seriously, beating the favorite Spanish team 77-74 and putting themselves in perfect position to finish pool play undefeated.

Trailing by two with 18 seconds left, Spain went to Pau Gasol who was fouled with five seconds left and had a chance to tie the game. Gasol missed the first free throw then made the second and that was all she wrote.

Vitaly Fridzon scored 24 points off the bench for Russia to lead them. Kirilenko scored just eight points to go with eight rebounds.

Pau Gasol led Spain with 20 points and five rebounds. Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez were the only two other Spanish players in double figures with 10 apiece.

Spain led 28-11 after the first quarter but struggled from three in the game going just 3-for-15 as Russia chipped away at their lead eventually coming all the way back.

The Russians were coming off a dramatic victory a few days ago in which they upset Brazil 75-74 on a last-second 3-pointer.

Russia will look to finish pool play undefeated playing Australia in two days. Russia has wrapped up the top seed in Pool B which means they will avoid the United States until a potential gold medal game.

Spain will play Brazil in their final game of pool play. Spain and Brazil both have just one loss so far in pool play and the winner of that game will finish as the second seed in Pool B.

There is a chance that both Spain and Brazil would prefer to lose that game so that they can avoid Team USA until a potential gold medal game. Brazil could throw their game later today against China and then also lose to Spain to in two days to secure the three seed.

The United States Olympic Basketball team made history two days ago in their 156-73 victory over Nigeria. It was the biggest margin of victory in U.S. Olympic history and they set a ton of records along the way.

The most notable record was the amount of threes they made. Team USA made 29-of-46 threes in the game, shattering their previous record of 13 made threes in a game back in 2008 vs. Spain.

It was a game where nothing looked like it could go wrong for the U.S. That was most evident in Carmelo Anthony’s play who scored a U.S. Olympic record 37 points including a special performance from three, making 10-of-12 in the game.

The U.S. played an unbeatable game against Nigeria, one that they will likely never repeat but nonetheless did show just how talented they are.

Things will get tougher for the United States beginning this morning as they take on Lithuania, hoping to improve to 4-0 in Olympic play and take a strangle hold in their pool.

Lithuania will be tougher than their last two opponents, Tunisia and Nigeria, but the U.S. should still easily come out on top. The Lithuanians are going to have an extremely hard time matching up with the athleticism of Team USA.

Lithuania will hope to slow the game down, execute their offense and force the U.S. to take a lot of threes over their zone. That may be the game plan to beat Team USA but they showed in their last game that forcing them to shoot a lot of threes may not be the greatest idea.

The last two games have been cakewalks for the U.S. playing Tunisia and Nigeria but the degree of difficulty will start to increase Saturday morning when Team USA takes on Lithuania at 9:30 a.m. EST.

Lithuania is just 1-2 so far in pool play losing to Argentina and most recently France. Lithuania is still a team with a lot of potential, maybe not to upset the U.S. but definitely give them a tough game.

Linas Kleiza is currently leading the team in scoring so far averaging 16.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for the Lithuanians. Kleiza has the potential to really heat up from beyond the 3-point line in any given game which will have to happen for Lithuania to hang with Team USA.

Lithuania also features another interesting NBA player in Jonas Valanciunas. Valanciunas hasn’t played much so far in the tournament averaging just 10.8 minutes per game but was a lottery selection by the Toronto Raptors a year ago and will be coming to the NBA next season.

Valanciunas will be the biggest player the U.S. has seen so far at the Olympics and should see an increase in workload in the game. He is still a very raw player and has been in a lot of foul trouble but his work on the interior is something that could give the U.S. trouble.

The United States have made us all forget about their one weakness having easily won all of their first three games. That will come more to the forefront starting with Lithuania and we will see if it ever becomes a big problem for them.

Carmelo Anthony has led the U.S. so far averaging 20.7 points per game heavily influenced by his U.S. Olympic record of 37 points vs. Nigeria. Anthony missed just three field goals total in the last two games for the U.S. and he made 10 threes against Nigeria.

Kevin Durant is second on the team averaging 16.3 points per game and he is the team’s leading rebounder at 6.7 per game.

One thing that could prevent Lithuania from pulling off the improbable upset is that they have not been very good shooting the three so far in the Olympics. A hot night from downtown is definitely necessary to compete with the U.S.

The U.S. on the other hand have been unreal with their 3-point shooting so far most recently making 29-of-46 threes vs. Nigeria. Team USA has not been shy about hoisting threes so far in this tournament and they should see a lot of zone from Lithuania which will lead to more of the same from three.

Ultimately the U.S. should cruise to another victory in this one. Lithuania is too weak in their backcourt and doesn’t have the shooting or athletes to pose a real threat to Team USA. This will not be a repeat of the Nigeria game though but a win is a win even if it’s by 25 instead of 83.

Carmelo Anthony led the way for the United States setting a U.S. Olympic record with 37 points and making 10-of-12 threes in the game. Stephon Marbury was the previous scoring record holder with 31 from back in 2004 against Spain.

The United States were ridiculously on fire from three in the game going 29-for-46 from beyond the arc in the game setting another U.S. record. The previous record for threes made in a game by the U.S. in the Olympics was 13 vs. Spain back in 2008. The U.S. made 14 threes in the first half today.

Russell Westbrook provided the best highlight of the game with a nasty alley-oop on a fast break late in the third quarter. Wetsbrook scored 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the game and actually looked like he wanted to catch Anthony in points but sat the entire fourth quarter.

Kevin Durant scored 14 points and made four threes for the U.S. James Harden had seven points and four assists off the bench.

The U.S. led 49-25 after the first quarter and you knew they were in for a special night. The U.S. would finish shooting 71.1 percent from the field and racking up 38 assists.

There was one kind of bright spot for Nigeria in Ike Diogu who scored 27 points for them. Nigeria turned the ball over 24 times in the game though and shot just 41.2 percent from the field.

Team USA will play their next game vs. Lithuania Saturday at 9:30 a.m. EST.

via @Ahmadab

Team USA blew out Nigeria 156-73 Thursday afternoon setting an Olympic Basketball record for points scored in a game. Carmelo Anthony has set a U.S. Olympic scoring record with 37 points, making 10-of-12 3-pointers.

Team USA has had plenty of highlights in the game most notably this dunk by Russell Westbrook on the fast break with the feed from Kevin Love.

Westbrook scored 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the game and there was a point in the third quarter where he looked like he wanted to catch Anthony in points.

Kevin Durant quietly scored all 14 of his points in the first half and made four threes. Kobe Bryant also was hot in the first half netting 16 points and a pair of threes.

Team USA finished the game going 29-of-46 from three in the game and shooting 71.1 percent from the field. Team USA had 38 assists in the game as well.

The United State will play Lithuania in their next game Saturday.

Deng finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the host country which is now 0-3 so far in the Olympics.

Spain improved to 3-0 as Pau Gasol once again led the way with 17 points and four assists. Calderon scored 19 points and Marc Gasol chipped in with 12.

Serge Ibaka came off the bench to score five points to go with four rebounds and two blocks.

Deng got some help from teammate Joel Freeland who just recently signed a 3-year deal with the Portland Trailblazers. Freeland scored 25 points and had eight rebounds for Great Britain today.

A barrage of late threes by Great Britain in the final minutes kept hope alive for them until the final buzzer. Spain struggled from the perimeter on the other hand making just 4-of-17 in the game.

Spain also struggled from the free throw line going just 21-for-32.

Spain sits atop Pool B with a 3-0 record and will play Russia who is also 3-0 so far in their next game on Saturday.

Spain is considered the favorite in Pool B and the biggest threat to challenge the United States for the gold medal while Great Britain would probably not even be playing in these Olympics if it wasn’t for them being the host country.

Pau Gasol is playing as good as he ever has for Spain of late averaging 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for them. He is joined by brother Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Felipe Reyes to makeup a very formidable front line.

Ibaka has been very solid for Spain coming off the bench averaging 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.

Spain is banged up with Marc Gasol nursing a shoulder injury and Rudy Fernandez getting roughed up in their last game. Team captain Juan Carlos Navarro missed the team’s last game against Australia with plantar fasciitis.

Spain beat China 97-81 in their first game after a scare early as China hung around led by Yi Jianlian who scored 30 points for them. Then Spain beat Australia 82-70 two days ago.

Great Britain lost to Russia by 20 in its opener then almost pulled off the upset vs. Brazil but lost 67-62.

Luol Deng is leading Great Britain averaging 19.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game for them and has played 39.3 minutes per game.

Deng is getting little help though aside from Pops Mensah-Bonsu who is giving them 17.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. It’s a case of Deng trying to do everything and it’s just way too much for him to handle.

Spain will not make it easy for Great Britain as they will surely outclass them. Spain has been together for a long time with this group and their offense runs like clockwork.

Spain is not the best defensive team and that’s how Great Britain could gain some confidence against them. If they can get hot from the outside and keep it close early, they could potentially hang around until the end with an upset in question.

Spain is definitely expected to improve to 3-0 with a win today matching the U.S. with an undefeated record so far.

There will be a third undefeated team remaining after today as well which will be determined by the winner of the Brazil-Russia game. Both teams are threats to Spain to upset them and win the pool but it is a long shot.

Andrei Kirilenko has been playing at a very high level for an underrated Russian team while Brazil has NBA size up front and a master of a point guard in Marcelinho Huertas.

Spain will play Russia then Brazil in their last two games of pool play after Great Britain today.

Team USA won its first two games beating France 98-71 then Tunisia two days ago 110-63. Nigeria won its first game vs. Tunisia 60-56 then lost to Lithuania 72-53.

Kevin Durant has led the U.S. in scoring through two games averaging 17.5 points per game to go with 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. The U.S. is shooting .521 percent from the field as a team and .360 percent from three while holding their opponents to .374 percent shooting and .229 percent from beyond the arc.

Nigeria is led by former NBA player Ike Diogu who is leading the team averaging 12.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game in the Olympics. New Orleans Hornets forward Al-Farouq Aminu is averaging 11.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game for them.

Nigeria will be another tune-up game for Team USA who will win the game easily. Nigeria is possibly a step up from Tunisia but still nowhere near the level of a team with a chance to upset Team USA.

Nigeria is shooting just .286 percent from the field so far in pool play and has made just 3-of-29 threes. They also only have 12 assists as a team compared to 55 for the U.S.

One of the players for Team USA that has stepped up since the Olympics have started is Kevin Love who is second on the team averaging 15.0 points per game. Everyone on the roster has gotten a lot of playing time so far because the games haven’t been close but Love has made the most of his minutes.

Russell Westbrook is averaging 10.0 points per game and James Harden 7.5, although still struggling from three making just 2-of-7 so far.

In their last game, head coach Mike Krzyzewski subbed in an entire new five after a few minutes and slow start vs. Tunisia. It sent a message to the starters and was a reminder of how deep this team is.

Krzyzewski then started those five bench players the second half and they played very well. We can expect to see Krzyzewski taking advantage of the team’s depth maybe more so that he had planned for the rest of this tournament.

The United States is the only undefeated team left in their pool right now with France upsetting Argentina two days ago. The battle for the second seed will be between France, Argentina and Lithuania while the U.S. should cruise to the top seed.

Nigeria would have had an outside chance to advance to the medal round had they upset Lithuania in their last game. Now it looks like they may not win another game.

Here is a look at the games from yesterday:

Russia 73, China 54

The Russians have been impressive so far and are now 2-0 in pool play. Andrei Kirirlenko was a monster in their first game and good again against China scoring 16 points to go with nine rebounds. Alexey Shved had another good game as well with 14 points and six assists. Yi Jianlian who scored 30 points against Spain on Sunday was held to just 16 against Russia. Russia is looking like they might be the biggest threat to Spain in Pool B.

Spain 82, Australia 70

The final score was closer than the game actually was as Spain led by 21 after three quarters. Spain played without their captain Juan Carlos Navarro who has a case of plantar fasciitis but it did not matter. Pau Gasol led the way with 20 points and Rudy Fernandez scored 17 points and made four threes. Serge Ibaka scored eight points off the bench in 17 minutes. Patty Mills had 11 points for Australia but again struggled from the field going 5-for-16. Spain is a little banged up but it still looks like they should win every game in pool play.

Nigeria 53, Lithuania 72

Nigeria got what probably will be their only win of the Olympics against Tunisia on Sunday. They really struggled against Lithuania shooting 24.2 percent from the field and making just 1-of-16 threes. Lithuania was led by Darius Songaila off the bench with 12 points and Linas Kleiza who scored 11 points. The Lithuanians were disappointing on Sunday when they lost to Argentina by so much but could still make some noise in this tournament as they are capable of beating anyone except maybe the U.S.

Brazil 67, Great Britain 62

The host country gave a great effort in this one led by Luol Deng who played the entire game and scored 12 points to go with seven assists and eight rebounds. It wasn’t enough though as the Brazilians got a great game from Tiago Splitter who scored 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Marcelinho Huertas played well again for Brazil scoring 13 points to go with eight assists. Great Britain stayed in this game largely due to Brazil struggling from three making just 3-of-22 treys. Brazil and Russia should battle it out for the No. 2 spot in Pool B behind Spain.

Argentina 64, France 71

Argentina looked amazing in their opening game against Lithuania while France was blown out by the U.S. in theirs. France pulled off the upset in this one though led by Tony Parker who had 17 points and five assists. Nando De Colo and Mickael Gelabale both came up big for France as each made three 3-pointers. Manu Ginobili led Argentina with 26 points and Luis Scola had 16. Carlos Delfino who was so great from beyond the arc against Lithuania went very cold vs. France going 0-for-5 on threes and 1-for-8 from the field overall. Argentina still has a chance for the No. 2 seed in Pool A if Lithuania can take down France or if the Argentines upset the U.S.

United States 110, Tunisia 63

This was quite the cakewalk for the U.S. Tunisia is the only team in the field without an NBA player and it showed although they hung around early. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski played the U.S. bench a lot of minutes in this one and they played very well. Kevin Durant scored 13 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists. Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love led the U.S. with 16 points apiece. The U.S. will not be challenged in their next game either as they will play Nigeria. Tunisia likely will not win a game in these Olympics.

Navarro is a very key part of the Spanish team and has played very well against the United States in the past. He had a brief stint in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies and is known for his floater in the paint and quick release on his 3-point shot.

Spain is considered the greatest threat to the United States winning gold in these Olympics but is dealing with a lot of injuries that could hinder them. They are already without Ricky Rubio who tore his ACL last season in the NBA. Rudy Fernandez and Marc Gasol are each also playing through injuries right now.

Spain will be fine in pool play despite these injuries and should still advance to the medal round as the top seed from their group. They are definitely susceptible to an upset though especially if they are not at 100 percent.

Brazil will be the biggest competition for them in pool play and could steal the top seed from them. Russia also has looked very strong so far led by Andrei Kirilenko.

This is why the United States is the best team in the Olympics. They may have some of the top talent but it’s their depth that puts them ahead of any other country.

Spain will play Great Britain in their next game Thursday at 3:00 p.m. EST.