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.

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.