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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

Tunisia lost its first game against Nigeria and now is looking like they may not win a game in these Olympics. Tunisia is playing in its first Olympics ever and fell behind 29-10 to Nigeria early in the game. They rallied back to down 49-47 with 5:14 left in the game but was not able to finish the comeback.

Team USA was not really challenged by France. France has some NBA players on its roster led by Tony Parker and Nicolas Batum but they were no match for the United States’ depth.

“We played a very good game against an outstanding team,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski told USA Basketball.com after the game. “France is so well-coached and in (Tony) Parker, they have as good of a guard as there is in the tournament. I thought we did a good job defensively. We share the ball. We assisted on 27 of our 31 buckets and we rebounded the ball very well. Overall, it was a good first step or us, beating an outstanding French team.”

Kevin Durant led the U.S. with 22 points in that game and made three 3-pointers as well. Durant looked good but his coaches and teammates are actually calling for him to shoot more on this team.

LeBron James played the role of facilitator against France scoring only nine points but dishing out eight assists.

Kevin Love played well for really the first time with this team. He played 14 minutes and scored 14 points to go with three boards. With this team’s lack of size possible being an issue down the road, Love stepping up will be of great benefit. Love should be able to play a lot again against Tunisia today.

Listen to Andrew Kennedy talk USA Basketball on The John Ackeren Show

Russell Westbrook had nine points, four rebounds and three assists against France. James Harden scored five points in 14 minutes of action.

Westbrook hasn’t really found his rhythm yet on this team. The entire team though is a little hesitant playing how they usually do in the NBA and are being more passive. That doesn’t vibe with Westbrook and he needs to be more assertive to contribute more for this team.

Harden should see more time again today. He hasn’t really gotten it going from three yet in any game and we’ll see if he can find his shooting touch today.

Amine Rzig played the best game for Tunisia scoring 18 points in 24 minutes and making 4-of-5 threes.

Tunisia turned the ball over 19 times against Nigeria which is a high number that will only go up when they play the U.S. today. One of the great strengths of the U.S. is the pressure they can apply on opposing backcourts with Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook.

Look forward to a lot of fast break opportunities for the United States today as they should easily cruise past Tunisia.

Tunisia is pretty reliant on shooting from the outside too and went 8-for-23 from three against Nigeria while only shooting five free throws. Don’t expect the Tunisians to get the same looks from three they did in their first game and we may see their number of made threes go down against the U.S.

The game will tip at 5:15 p.m. EST and will air on the NBC Sports Channel.

Kevin Durant led the team scoring 22 points and making three 3-pointers. That number easily led the team as Durant is surely the favorite to lead this team in scoring.

But Durant’s teammates and coaches want the 3-time scoring champion to shoot the ball more.

“I told KD (Durant) to just be himself,” LeBron James told the Charlotte Observer. “On a team like this you can kind of shy away because there are so many great players here. But KD’s on this team for a reason. He’s one of the best players the world has and he’s a three-time scoring champ. So we don’t want the KD that defers. We want the KD that he is in Oklahoma City.”

LeBron is absolutely right about this. There’s no point in Durant playing on this team with a different mentality than the one that has earned him three straight scoring championships.

It is understandable for Durant to not immediately want to get on the floor and start gunning. It’s not really his personality to be that way especially with all of the great players around him. Durant needs to realize though that he should stop thinking and just start playing for this team to win gold.

Team USA has some flaws. They are small and will be at a disadvantage against a few teams that could beat them, mainly Spain and Brazil. Team USA’s greatest strength against those teams is Durant and his ability to score so easily against them.

Durant is seeing defense that isn’t even close to what he has to deal with in the NBA. Watching him against these countries you see him with so much more room to operate when he has the ball. It has resulted in him shooting a very high percentage from three so far as he is given a ton of room right on the catch.

Durant has been passive though at other times. When driving to the rim he has often kicked out and looked to make a pass instead of to score. Durant’s strength is scoring though and from anywhere on the floor. Team USA will live with him overshooting instead of him trying to play nice and get other players touches.

“Sometimes coach was screaming at me,” Durant said. “And Chris Paul was screaming at me more than anybody, ‘Shoot the ball!’ I guess I’ve got to be aggressive.”

We can expect to see an even more aggressive Durant now for the rest of the Olympics which has to be scary for every team the U.S. will play. No one has a player they can put on Durant to slow him down.

Team USA will play Tunisia in their next game tomorrow at 5:15 p.m. EST.

The United States are the favorite in their pool and in the entire Olympics to win the gold. Spain is the favorite in the other pool to come out as the top seed.

There were a few teams who looked good and could pose a threat to the United States later on.

“A lot of teams,” James Harden told USABasketball.com when asked if any team was a threat to the U.S. “France was dangerous, Spain, every team. We can’t take our foot off the gas. Against each and every team we have to go out there and compete and play hard every time we step on the floor.”

Kevin Durant spoke about how close Team USA is to the finished product.

“We’re close,” Durant said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but that’s the beauty of it all. We’re all coming together in such a short time. We’re having fun playing. Guys don’t worry about points, rebounds, assists; we just want to play to win.”

Here are the results from the first day of games:

Tunisia 56, Nigeria 60

The two African teams would match up in the first game of the Olympics. They aren’t two of the better teams either while neither is expected to advance beyond pool play. The Nigerians got the best of Tunisia though winning a close one. Ike Diogu had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Nigeria and Al-Farouq Aminu had 15 points and nine rebounds. Tunisia turned the ball over 19 times in the game and will play USA in their next game where they can expect to be blown out.

Australia 71, Brazil 75

Australia proved they will be a tough team with this showing nearly knocking off Brazil who is one of the better teams in the tournament. Patty Mills scored 20 points on 9-of-24 shooting for Australia but was outdueled by Brazil’s point guard, Marcelinho Huertas who had 15 points and 10 assists. Leandro Barbosa led the Brazilians with 16 points while Anderson Varejao had 12 points and seven rebounds. Brazil passes a tough test here and is still considered the team with the best chance to upset Spain in Pool B.

France 71, United States 98

Team USA got off to a slow start but had no trouble dominating France in this one. Kevin Durant led the U.S. with 22 points and nine rebounds. LeBron James had nine points and eight assists. Tony Parker was easily contained and had just 10 points in the game. Team USA did what they were supposed to. There are a few teams with a chance to beat them in this tournament but France isn’t one of them. France is still looking to advance to the medal round with high hopes of finishing as the 2-seed from Pool A.

China 81, Spain 97

The Chinese gave Spain a scare in this one led by their lone NBA product, Yi Jianlian, who scored 30 points and had 12 rebounds. Spain is not the greatest defensive team but was on point with their offense. Pau Gasol led the way with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Serge Ibaka came off the bench to add 17 points and three blocks. Once Spain got their act together, they started looking like the favorite in Pool B. China may have a chance to make some noise in pool play if Yi continues to play at this level.

Great Britain 75, Russia 95

Russia is one of the more underrated teams in the Olympics this year and was impressive in this game. Andrei Kirilenko led the way with 35 points on 14-for-17 shooting while Alexey Shved added 16 points and 13 assists. The host country is basically a one man show in Luol Deng who scored 26 points on 8-of-27 shooting though.

Lithuania 79, Argentina 102

Argentina may have been the most impressive team of Day 1. They dominated a very good Lithuanian team and looked like real threats to the United States. Carlos Delfino got things going with a barrage of threes in the first half and finished with 20 points and six threes in the game. Manu Ginobili had 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Luis Scola led the team with 32 points. Lithuania is a young teal still with a chance to go far in these Olympics. They were led by Linas Kleiza who had 20 points. Jonas Valanciunas played just 13 minutes and had six points and five rebounds.

Kevin Durant scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Team USA beat France 98-71 in their first game of the 2012 Olympics Sunday.

Durant hit three 3-pointers in the game and also finished off the break with two monster slams here. The second dunk was the most impressive play highlighted by a fantastic LeBron James pass.

LeBron has shown before his ability to be a great passer especially with full court passes. He and Dwyane Wade have hooked up for many highlight finishes in Miami.

Lebron and Durant is an even more deadly combination on a basketball court. They really have been complimenting each other nicely. LeBron is such a strong passer while Durant needs one or sometimes no dribbles to finish with a dunk on the break.

LeBron led the United States with eight assists in the game and he really created a lot of easy looks for Team USA against France.

Team USA ran a lot of its offense through LeBron at the high post using him as a facilitator to find the open scorers he is surrounded by on this roster.

Durant emerged today and should continue to be the team’s leading scorer throughout these Olympics. In the exhibition games LeBron scored slightly more than Durant did and Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant both have the chance on any given night to be Team USA’s leading scorer.

Durant should ultimately lead the team in scoring and have a chance to set an Olympic record in terms of points scored.

The highlights will continue to come for Team USA as their next two games will be against the two weakest teams in their pool, Tunisia on Tuesday and then Nigeria on Thursday.

Team USA didn’t get off to the best start missing their first six 3-point attempts as France hung around early down just one after the first quarter.

The United States got their act together after that finishing the first half off strong and led 52-36 at the break.

The U.S. went just 8-for-26 on threes in the game but France was much worse hitting just 2-of-23 threes.

LeBron James played the role of facilitator perfectly leading the team with eight assists to go along with nine points.

Tony Parker was held to just 10 points in the game and was 4-for-11 from the field.

Russell Westbrook scored nine points off the bench and James Harden chipped in with five.

France is a team with some potential to go far in these Olympics but really has no chance against the U.S. They are more of an athletic team than the usual international teams you see that have a lot of good shooters on the floor at all times.

The formula for beating Team USA is hitting a lot of threes and beating them on the glass too. France was able to do neither and therefore the U.S. walked away with a pretty easy victory.

There will be no games tomorrow then Team USA will play Tunisia on Tuesday who lost their opening game to Nigeria earlier this morning.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The United States will play their first Olympic Basketball game Sunday, July 29 at 9:30 a.m. EST against France.

The United States prepared for the Olympics with five exhibition games and won them all by an average of 26.6 points.

Kevin Durant averaged 17.6 points per game and shot .552 percent from three in those exhibition games. LeBron James led the team averaging 18.6 points to go along with 4.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Team USA is the favorite to win the gold medal but France is one of the teams expected to give them a decent game.

France is led by San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker who is coming off one of the best NBA seasons of his career in which he led the Spurs to the best record in the NBA and a Western Conference Finals appearance.

Parker is joined by a few other NBA products in Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum, Kevin Seraphin and Nando De Colo who should make up the starting five for them.

France is ranked 12th in the world and the last time they played the U.S. in the Olympics was back in 2000 in Sydney for the gold medal game which the United States won 85-75.

The blatant weakness for Team USA is their lack of size. They start Tyson Chandler at center and then have only two other legit bigs on their bench in Kevin Love and Anthony Davis, each who didn’t play much at all in their exhibition games.

Instead, head coach Mike Krzyzewski has elected to play smaller lineups consisting of LeBron and Durant at power forward and center a lot of times. This has its advantages on offense but disadvantages on defense. The consensus still is that the United States are talented enough that this size disadvantage shouldn’t stop them from winning gold.

France isn’t a particularly big team either so the United States should really have no trouble handling them. Parker will surely be the main point of emphasis for the U.S. defense which should be more than capable of slowing him down with Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams in their backcourt.

In Pool A, France has a good shot at coming out of pool play as the 2-seed. Argentina and Lithuania will be the other two teams competing for that spot. Finishing pool play as the 2-seed would mean avoiding the U.S. in the medal round until a potential gold medal game.

France is often overrated and seems to underachieve in international competition. This will be revealed when they play the U.S. as the game has no business remaining close for too long.

The question only will be which U.S. player steps up and has a big game. We’ve seen Durant and LeBron do it consistently in the exhibition games as well as Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.

It will also be interesting to see if the U.S. struggles at all if they see any zone from France. That will be the main defensive tactic thrown at the United States by other countries and the U.S. could be contained to some degree playing against a 2-3 zone.

The United States attempted 27.6 threes per game in their five exhibition games so they aren’t shy to toss up treys at will. In the closest of those exhibition games against Brazil, the U.S. went just 6-for-24 on threes and shot just over 40 percent from the field in the game.

A cold shooting night from three is definitely a key ingredient for a potential upset against Team USA. Again though, it really shouldn’t matter against France. The United States are fully prepared to roll to a victory in their first Olympic game of 2012.

Team USA will kickoff their Olympic play at 9:00 a.m. EST vs. France. Every basketball game will air on either NBC or NBC Sports.

The next two games for the United States should be blowouts as they will play Tunisia on Tuesday and then Nigeria Thursday. Team USA will end their pool play with two tough tests first against Lithuania and last against Argentina.

The top four teams from each pool will advance to the single-elimination medal tournament. The one and three seeds from each pool will match up with the two and four seeds from the opposite pool once the tournament begins.

Spain is the favorite to come out of Pool B as the 1-seed while the U.S. is favored to be the 1-seed in theirs. Expect the teams in Pool B to try very hard to avoid getting the two and four seeds.

Here is the full schedule below with all times EST:

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The 2012 London Olympics are upon us with the opening ceremonies going on today. Olympic basketball will start Sunday, July 29.

The United States are coming in as the favorites to win the gold but the competition keeps getting tougher for them every four years. Team USA won gold back in the 2008 Beijing Olympics but did not in 2004 in Athens when Argentina won.

Team USA is full of NBA stars just like in 2008 but this time around they have a noticeable weakness that has the potential to be exploited by other countries. Team USA is small with only three true big men in Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis.

This has forced LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony to essentially play a lot of minutes at power forward and even center. Mismatches are a two-way street but given the way these international games are played, the U.S. could be in some trouble with this roster.

Twelve teams make it to the Olympics and they are split into two pools of six. Then each team in each pool plays each other once with the top four from each pool advancing to play in an 8-team, single-elimination tournament.

Team USA is in Pool A along with Argentina, Lithuania, France, Nigeria and Tunisia. Pool B consists of Spain, Brazil, Russia, Australia, China and Great Britain.

Pool Play

In pool play, expect the United States to pretty much dominate. France, Argentina and Lithuania all are considered to have a chance to possibly upset the U.S. but it is unlikely to happen before the medal round. Team USA should cruise winning every game in their pool and come out the 1-seed.

France, Argentina and Lithuania all have a legitimate shot at becoming the 2-seed. There is even a chance they could all finish with a 3-2 record in pool play to make things very interesting. France and Argentina are getting the most attention while Lithuania may have the better team of the three.

I think Lithuania emerges as the 2-seed in this pool followed by Argentina as the 3-seed and then France as the 4-seed.

Nigeria and Tunisia will battle it out for the irrelevant 5- and 6-seeds while neither should be able to beat any of the top four teams in this group. I predict Tunisia doesn’t win a game.

Spain is considered the heavy favorite to make it to the gold medal game against the United States. They should come out of this pool as the 1-seed but Brazil and Russia have an outside chance to finish ahead of them.

Ultimately Spain should come out as the 1-seed although there is some pressure to win every game in the pool and they definitely don’t want to finish as the 2-seed and be forced to play the United States before the gold medal game.

Brazil and Russia should be battling for the 2-seed or actually, the 3-seed. No one wants to get the 2-seed in this pool because then they would have to play the U.S. before the gold medal game. If Spain emerges as the definite 1-seed early in pool play, expect to see some interesting game plans from Russia and Brazil in an attempt to avoid Team USA.

I think that Brazil will finish as the 2-seed though as the final game of pool play will be between them and Spain. The winner of that game will determine who wins the pool as I think both will be undefeated up until that point.

Russia should get the 3-seed followed by Australia who I think narrowly edges out China for the 4-seed. Great Britain may not win a game except possibly against China.

Quarterfinals

Team USA should easily handle Australia and move on to the semifinal. They will play the winner of Brazil and Argentina which should be a very close game. I give Brazil the edge here but it really could go either way.

Spain should have no problem with France in their quarterfinal but it may be closer than people think. Lithuania and Russia should make for a very good game but I think Lithuania pulls it out.

Semifinal

Team USA was played very closely by Brazil in their exhibition game and I think this game will be possibly the closest one they play all Olympics. Brazil didn’t play any zone against the U.S. in that exhibition and still had a chance to win the game. They are much bigger too and have a great point guard in Marcelinho Huertas who gave the U.S. fits in the exhibition. It will be a close one but I’m not picking against the U.S. here.

Spain and Lithuania should be a good game too but Spain should definitely win. They are such a balanced team and may even win this game and have a 7-0 record in the Olympics after it. There will be a lot of talk about Spain having a real good chance of upsetting the U.S. after this point.

Gold Medal Game

It will come down to the two teams we all wanted to see play: USA vs. Spain. In their exhibition earlier this week Team USA won by 22 but Spain did not show all of their cards. Marc Gasol didn’t play at all and Pau Gasol and some of their other better players didn’t log heavy minutes.

This game will be as close as any in the Olympics and I truly believe it could go either way. Maybe what happens up to this point in the Olympics will change that feeling for me but from what I’ve seen from Team USA and Spain so far make me think this is a very even matchup.

I’m picking Team USA because of one man: Kevin Durant. For everything that is wrong with this Team USA roster, Durant fixes it by being the most unfair player in the tournament. It will be easy for him to rise to the challenge with the great talent around him especially aided by LeBron James.

The 2008 gold medal game was remembered as one of the best international basketball games ever played and I think the 2012 gold medal game will end up being right there with it. It will be another reminder that the world is catching up to the U.S. in hoops but that we are still the best because we have the very best, Durant and LeBron.

Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

USA Basketball has finished its exhibition play in preparation for the London Olympics which will begin Friday, July 27. Team USA went 5-0 in their exhibition games beating the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Great Britain, Argentina and Spain.

Team USA will be in Pool A in the Olympics along with Argentina, France, Lithuania, Nigeria and Tunisia. The United States is the favorite to win gold in London but it won’t be a cakewalk.

“All I’m concerned about is how we’re going to get better,” Kevin Durant said when asked who was the favorite in the Olympics. “How we’re going to approach these Games, that’s all I’m worried about. We’ll see what happens at the end.”

The team has been modest at times but also knows there is only one acceptable outcome for them.

The United States will play each team in their pool once before the medal round begins. The top four teams from each pool after the round robin will advance to an 8-team tournament.

Pool B is considered the better all-around pool but there will be some competition in Pool A for Team USA. Here is a preview of each team in the pool:

United States

Team USA is ranked first in the world and rightfully so. They won gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics then won the World Championships two years later. LeBron James has averaged 18.6 points per game to lead the team in its five exhibition games while Durant is averaging 17.6 points per game and went 16-for-29 from beyond the shorter 3-point line.

The weakness for the United States is no secret. They aren’t a big team and have played LeBron, Durant and Carmelo Anthony a lot at the four and five positions. Some teams will have a pretty decent advantage against them inside but it shouldn’t be enough to take them down.

France

France is always a team you expect to be a little better because they have quite a few NBA players. Unfortunately for them they will be without Joakim Noah who would have been huge for them. Tony Parker is playing some of the best basketball of his life though and will be a tough cover for anyone. They also have a few decent athletes at the wing positions led by Nicolas Batum to try and match up with the U.S. Boris Diaw is coming off a great year for the Spurs and has a game made for the international style. Spurs fans will also get a look at Nando De Colo who will be joining the team next year.

France should advance to the medal round and is one of the few teams with a chance to upset the United States but it is pretty unlikely.

Argentina

This is not the same Argentina team that won a gold medal in 2004 and beat the United States. Actually, it pretty much is and that’s the problem. They’ve gotten older and aren’t the heavyweight they used to be. They’re still led by Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino who can all fill it up on any given night, just not as consistently as they used to.

Argentina and France will battle it out for the second seed in Pool A, a spot each will really want to get because then they would avoid the United States until a potential gold medal game.

Lithuania

Lithuania is a small country that absolutely loves hoops and produces some fine NBA-caliber talent. They’ve had some success in the past and have the potential to come out of Pool A as possibly the 2-seed. They have NBA talent in Sarunas Jasikevicius, Linas Kleiza, Darius Songaila and Jonas Valanciunas. They have a lot of size too and could give the U.S. a very good game.

This Lithuania team is the kind that would have probably beaten Team USA in 2004 but this year it should be a different story. Raptors fans will love getting their first look at their 2011 first round lottery pick, Valanciunas.

Nigeria

Nigeria was the last team to qualify for the Olympics making a pretty improbable run to get in. They are led by two NBA talents in Al-Farouq Aminu and Ike Diogu. This is another team with a lot of size but simply not enough talent to be taken seriously. They have an outside chance of advancing to the medal round as the 4-seed but it is pretty unlikely.

Tunisia

Tunisia qualified for the Olympics by winning the African tournament. They aren’t to be feared by anyone though. They are the new Angola and should get blown out in every game in this pool aside from Nigeria.

Tomorrow we will have a preview of Pool B.

The groups were announced yesterday and nine countries have already qualified. Two more teams will join Team USA’s group.

Group B consists so far of Australia, Brazil, China, Great Britain and Spain.

Spain is being touted as Team USA’s greatest competition. They will have Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Jose Calderon on their roster. Ricky Rubio will miss the Olympics because of the torn ACL he suffered this season.

We’ve seen Tony Parker of France take his game to another level this season in the NBA. He has also taken a larger role in Team France for these Olympics but for whatever reason, France never does too well in the Olympics despite a decent cast of NBA talent.

With the injuries to Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard, a few roster spots have opened up for Team USA. Russell Westbrook who was on the bubble in terms of making the roster will now likely be chosen to the team.

Kevin Durant was the star of Team USA’s world championship run two years ago and will likely be a starter and key contributor in the Olympics a few months from now.