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.

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.

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 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.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

USA Basketball improved to 4-0 in exhibition play beating Argentina 86-80 Sunday afternoon in Barcelona, Spain.

Kevin Durant led the United States with 27 points and made seven 3-pointers in the game including a dagger with 2:40 left to put the U.S. up 81-74.

Manu Ginobili came right back down with a driving layup after that. Ginobili led Argentina with 23 points in the game.

Chris Paul dribbled down the clock on the next possession then hit another three for the United States sealing the deal on an Argentina team that refused to go away.

The U.S. got out to a huge lead early jumping ahead 16-1 to start the game behind some hot shooting from Durant and Kobe Bryant. Durant made four of his seven threes in the first quarter and Kobe also hit a pair.

Team USA perhaps fell in love with the three a little too much (13-for-34 in the game) allowing Argentina to get back into the game but the end result was never really in question. Team USA has too many options to allow a team to come back on them.

The United States backcourt pressure prowess was less of a factor against a pretty talented Argentina squad that featured some NBA talent in their backcourt. Argentina wasn’t talented enough with their bigs though to really exploit the United States’ lack of size.

Luis Scola scored 14 points for Argentina and Team USA had little trouble containing him although the pesky Scola did get into a little altercation bumping chests with Durant while LeBron James separated the two.

Frustration was high for Scola and Argentina who was playing in just their second exhibition game so far, previously getting blown out by Spain by 20 points a few days ago.

The game was tight enough though that James Harden and Anthony Davis did not play at all for the United States.

Argentina has a history of performing well against the United States in international hoops but that is just history now. This is not the best Argentina team of all-time and they’re not on the same level as Team USA.

Argentina will be in the same pool as Team USA when the Olympics start and is considered their biggest competition in the group.

Team USA will play Spain in their fifth and final exhibition game before the Olympics start Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2. Spain is without question Team USA’s biggest obstacle in winning Gold and the game should be as competitive as any we have seen yet for the United States.

Joe Toth-US PRESSWIRE

Team USA Basketball will play its fourth exhibition game today at 3:30 p.m. EST vs. Argentina in preparation for the 2012 London Olympics.

The United States are 3-0 so far in exhibition games beating the Dominican Republic, Brazil and most recently Great Britain.

Argentina will certainly be the bigger test of the bunch so far as they are ranked 3rd in the world by FIBA behind only the United States and Spain. Argentina won Gold in the 2004 Olympics and then Bronze in the 2008 Olympics.

Argentina is led by a familiar cast of NBA players like Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni and Carlos Delfino. While that doesn’t compare to the NBA players on the U.S.’s roster, it will still be tougher than anything Team USA has seen so far.

The United States looked great in their first exhibition game killing the Dominican Republic then they struggled against Brazil winning just 80-69. Brazil had a big time size advantage in the paint and they gave the U.S. trouble.

Argentina is coming off a 105-85 loss to Spain a few days ago in an exhibition of their own. Ginobili scored 19 points in that game and Scola added 18. Spain was led by Pau Gasol who had 17 and Juan Carlos Navarro who had 16.

LeBron James and Kevin Durant will lead Team USA but they have to do it on this team in a somewhat different way than you’d expect. They are both essentially playing out of position at power forward and even center on this roster.

LeBron and Durant are two of the best players in the world and are thus very versatile but we will see them at a disadvantage at times, especially on defense with Team USA. LeBron and Durant have been fine on offense though averaging 17.7 and 16.0 points per game, respectively, to lead the team.

Tyson Chandler is the only big man that has been getting significant run for the U.S. and that has made things difficult for them. Kevin Love and Anthony Davis have only played big minutes in the two blowouts.

The strength of Team USA is at the guard and wing positions. They have had a lot of success pressing their opponents forcing an average of 26.0 turnovers per game so far in their exhibition play. This was easy to do against D.R. and G.B. but Argentina will not be as weak protecting the ball.

When the United States played Brazil, we saw Brazil not show their entire hand as they played no zone throughout the entire game. Argentina may do the same as so many international coaches choose to do. Playing zone against the U.S. is the best way to beat them as they are weakest shooting from the perimeter and passing the ball around a zone.

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski shuffled up the starting lineup in Team USA’s last game against Great Britain starting Durant and Deron Williams instead of Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul. Krzyzewski says he has seven starters on this team and it doesn’t matter who he starts.

Durant is averaging the second-most minutes per game on the team so far despite coming off the bench in two of the games. It still feels like a waste not to start him as the team should try and play he and LeBron together as much as possible.

We have seen the United States continually gel and look better playing together with each exhibition game. Today is another chance to get better and they will need to if they plan to take home the Gold.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (2-game winning streak)
105.9 Offensive Efficiency (2nd)
99.3 Defensive Efficiency (14th)
95.9 Pace (5th)

Rockets (2-game losing streak)
101.9 Offensive Efficiency (9th)
99.9 Defensive Efficiency (16th)
95.0 Pace (11th)

The Thunder have won their last two games, both against Utah, and now sit atop the NBA with the best record at 22-6. Tonight they will play the Houston Rockets who are a similar opponent to the Jazz. The Thunder beat the Rockets twice already this year on back-to-back games played in the first week of January. Kevin Durant had big games in each of those as well as James Harden. The Rockets have a similar issue when it comes to guarding Durant that Utah had in that they will be putting young players on him with Chandler Parsons and Chase Budinger. The Rockets were without Kyle Lowry in both of those games however and he will be suiting up tonight.

Thunder keys to the game

1. Kevin Martin

Kevin Martin has been in one of the biggest slumps of his career the past few games and the Thunder need to keep it that way. He did not score a single point for the first time in six years last night and is only averaging 7.3 points per game over his last six games. Martin can get hot easily and can beat opponents from the outside, an area of weakness for the Thunder defense. Thabo Sefolosha is still day-to-day and unlikely to play so the defensive assignment will go to Daequan Cook whose forte isn’t on the defensive end.

2. The Thunder bigs

Oklahoma City’s big men have been great lately. Serge Ibaka has been a monster blocking shots and now leads the league in that department. Ibaka didn’t do much the first two times Houston played and has been much better lately. Luis Scola had a 28-point game when Houston played at home against Oklahoma City but Ibaka should be able to slow him down tonight. Scola is similar to Paul Millsap in his craftiness on offense so the Thunder bigs should be used to his style tonight. Kendrick Perkins has been productive of late too including a career-high six assists last night. His screen-setting to free Durant and get him going early will be crucial. Nazr Mohammed had a season-high 17 points the last time the Thunder played the Rockets. Oklahoma City wouldn’t say no to a repeat of that tonight.

3. Rebounding

The Thunder are on a back-to-back tonight and the Rockets are one of the better rebounding teams in the NBA. Houston is third in the NBA in total rebound rate and fifth in offensive rebound rate. Oklahoma City will need to be focused tonight to make sure they don’t get killed on the glass. Durant is the leading rebounder for the Thunder but will have to respect Parsons and Budinger on the perimeter tonight so won’t be able to hang around the paint to get defensive boards. Perkins and Ibaka need to be focused on boxing out every possession and especially so since Houston shoots a lot of threes. A good rebounding night will lead to fast breaking for one of the best teams in the NBA in transition and an easy win for the Thunder.

Prediction: Oklahoma City wins 109-106.