Ibaka played just 15.1 minutes per game and averaged 8.0 points per game. After the Olympics, Ibaka said that he wasn’t sure if he would continue playing for Spain in the future.

Pau Gasol wants Ibaka to be a part of Spain’s basketball future.

“We hope Serge can be part of the national team for many years,” Gasol told the Los Angeles Times. “He brings so many special unique set of skills to the table.

“We were very talented and we were very deep. There’s so many other great players. Some days you’ll play a little more. Some days you’ll play better. Some days you won’t. But at the end of the day, what matters is the team success. He’s only 22 or 23. He has many years ahead of him. It’s good he has a desire and hunger. But he needs to understand the facts and circumstances of the moment and the needs long-term.”

Ibaka was playing behind the Gasol brothers for Spain who got the bulk of the minutes at the four and five positions. He was never going to overtake them in these Olympics and take any of their minutes. There were times when Spain elected to go with the veteran Felipe Reyes over Ibaka which could have been frustrating for him.

Gasol said he wasn’t sure if he would be playing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio and if he isn’t, then Spain will definitely have a huge need for Ibaka. Ibaka will be one of Spain’s stars by then and the experience playing in those Olympics should be much richer for him.

“I’m not going to play forever,” Gasol said. “Marc Gasol is not going to play forever.”

Ibaka just signed a 4-year, $49 million contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder meaning he will be on OKC by the time the next Olympics come around.

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.

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.

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Spain was led by Pau Gasol who had 21 points, 10 rebounds and three assists and Serge Ibaka who scored 17 points off the bench to go with five rebounds and three blocks.

China who was a heavy underdog coming into the game would not go away because of a great game from Yi Jianlian who scored 30 points on 13-of-19 shooting to go with 12 rebounds.

Spain, who is not known for their defense, allowed 51.6 percent shooting by the Chinese but made up for it shooting 57.1 percent from the field themselves including 11-for-19 from 3-point land.

Jose Calderon had the hot hand early making three early 3-pointers and would finish with 12 points in the game.

China of course no longer features Yao Ming but they did have another legendary Chinese center dawn the court in Wang Zhizhi who had one of those “throwback Wang” games scoring 15 points while stepping out and knocking down a pair of treys.

Spain was not necessarily at their best in the game turning the ball over an unnecessarily 13 times against a mediocre Chinese defense.

Spain will have to play better to ensure winning the rest of their games in pool play and getting the top seed so as to avoid the United States until a potential gold medal game.

Spain will play Australia next on Tuesday and then against Great Britain Thursday.

Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

Spain comes into the 2012 London Olympics viewed as less of a threat to challenge the United States for the gold medal than they were four years ago.

In 2008, Spain was looked at as the team with the best shot to knock of the United States who were no longer unbeatable, winning bronze in the 2004 games. The U.S. Redeem Team would come out on top in the 2008 gold medal game beating Spain.

Spain played Team USA earlier this week in an exhibition game and lost 100-78. Spain treated the game as a friendly however and we can expect more competition from them in the Olympics.

Spain opens up the 2012 Olympic Basketball pool play against China today with the tip at 11:45 a.m. EST. Spain is considered the favorite in Pool B and is ranked 2nd in the world by FIBA. China is ranked 10th in the world but still not considered much of a threat against a team like Spain.

Spain brings an impressive cast to London in 2012 led of course by Pau Gasol. Pau will be joined by his brother Marc on the inside as well as Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka.

Ibaka is able to play for Spain as their one naturalized player because although he was not born there, he became a citizen while playing in their professional league a few years back.

The inside is definitely the strength of this Spain team and the biggest thing that will give them an edge over the U.S. but they also have pretty good balance elsewhere.

In the backcourt they will start Jose Calderon at point guard who was fourth in the NBA last season in assists per game. Calderon will be joined by one of the all-time greats from the Euroleague, Juan Carlos Navarro.

A big loss for Spain in these Olympics is that they will not be playing with Ricky Rubio who suffered a torn ACL last season and is still rehabbing. Rubio first came onto the national scene back in 2008 in the Olympics for Spain when he was just 17 years old.

At the wing positions Spain is solid too led by Rudy Fernandez and Victor Claver. Fernandez has played in the NBA for the past few seasons and made a name for himself as a fearless shooter and scorer while Claver will join the Portland Trailblazers next season.

China meanwhile has much less NBA experience on their roster. They are led by Yi Jianlian who now plays for the Dallas Mavericks. Yi was a high lottery pick in the NBA once upon a time but has jumped from team to team in his short NBA career having a tough time finding a good fit.

Yi only played in 30 games for Dallas last season. His best season was in 2009-10 for New Jersey when he averaged 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Nets.

Yi doesn’t have a ton of help but NBA fans will recognize the starting center for China, Wang Zhizhi. Zhizhi is a stretch bit who played some in the NBA spending most of his time hoisting up threes.

Sun Yue will start in China’s backcourt and is one of their best guards. Yue played for the Los Angeles Lakers one season back in 2008-09 and won an NBA title with them but only played in 10 games.

China will be overmatched by Spain in just about every area on the floor. Spain is an experienced bunch confident that they can compete for a gold medal this year. China will not be a team capable of standing in their way.

Spain will be very concerned with winning every game in pool play and winning by as big of a margin as possible. They want the 1-seed so they can avoid the United States until a potential gold medal game.

In Pool B, Spain has a little competition in Brazil and Russia for the top seed. If somehow there is a 3-way tie at the top of the pool, winning margin becomes the tie-breaker so expect to see Spain going all out to win every game starting today against China.

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:

Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

Team USA will begin pool play in the London Olympics Sunday at 9:30 a.m. EST vs. France. The United States are unsurprisingly considered the heavy favorites to win gold in these Olympics.

The roster envisioned for the United States this year did not end up going as planned. Injuries kept Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh from making the journey to London this summer, leaving the U.S. with a talented but incomplete roster.

The likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant will be on the floor for the United States but this team has a real weakness. They are a small team with only three legit bigs in Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis.

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski has elected to play a lot of small lineups including ones where LeBron and Durant are at the center position. This will be something that will really put the U.S. at a disadvantage when they play a team like Spain who features the Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka.

The United States should still be able to make up for their weakness with superior talent. LeBron is no doubt their leader, coming off another MVP season and winning the first NBA title of his career.

But LeBron is not the most important player for Team USA. That title belongs to Durant.

This is not to say that LeBron isn’t the best player or most talented player on Team USA. It’s just that this team’s ceiling and its potential is only reached with Durant playing at an extremely high level, one in which we’d consider calling him Team USA’s best player.

Durant is simply made for the international game. Shooting the shorter 3-pointer is like a layup for him especially with no country stocked well enough with defenders long enough to bother his feathery jumper. He’s made it look easy in Team USA’s five exhibitions averaging 17.6 points per game and shooting .552 percent from beyond the arc.

Durant will be asked to do some things he is not entirely comfortable with too in playing the four and five positions, banging with physical bigs from Europe and rotating over in the paint to help protect the rim. If he’s able to pull that off well enough and lead the team in scoring at the other end, shooting the kind of percentages he showed in the exhibitions, then he will be considered Team USA’s best player as they most likely bring him the gold.

It will be another example of LeBron’s talents being taken for granted. LeBron does like it this way though. LeBron will get lost in the shuffle in these Olympics to an extent as he too is asked to defend bigger players and do a lot of the dirty work on defense.

On offense, LeBron will comfortably play the distributor role. Teams will throw zone at the U.S. on a nightly basis which will force LeBron into this role, one he will smartly accept and excel at. He just won’t be noticed as much while he’s doing it, especially because Durant will be scoring 20-plus points every night and draining 5-plus threes per game.

When you look at the United States’ roster, they look beatable. When you watch them play in their exhibitions, you see their flaws. A good international team will take advantage of these things and make the United States pay. It would be enough to win if not for Durant.

Every time another country executes their offense to perfection, beating the United States just barely on a backdoor pass and finishing with a layup that breathes that much more hope into their minds for a potential upset, Durant will simply walk into another 24-footer on the other end of the floor, sucking the life and hope right back out of them.

Durant represents the United States’ basketball talent dominance better than any other player in these Olympics including LeBron. Teams can match up with LeBron in some ways under international rules. They can take him out of the game some but Durant, they just have no chance.

Team USA should be standing on the podium a little over two weeks from now and a little higher than any other country. They should win gold and when they do, it will be because of Durant more than any other player.

LeBron has proved he is the best player in the NBA. But the title for best player in the world, Durant may have a case there.

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

The London Olympics are now upon us. The opening ceremonies will be held tomorrow July 27 and the basketball begins Sunday, July 29.

USA Basketball is the favorite to win gold but not as overwhelmingly as you would first think. Teams like Spain, Brazil and Argentina are fully capable of upsetting the mighty U.S.

Team USA is in Pool A which we previewed yesterday. Pool B is led by Spain who is the team everyone expects to meet the United States in a gold medal game. Here is a preview of all of the teams in Pool B:

Spain

Spain has emerged as the most likely team to upset the United States in the Olympics. They are led by Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol as well as Serge Ibaka, Jose Calderon, Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro. They will be without Ricky Rubio which will hurt but they are still fully capable of pulling off an upset. Spain has a lot of experience and size that will be tough for any team to deal with including the U.S.

While Spain is the favorite in this pool, they are not a shoo-in to beat every team. To ensure a meeting with the United States in the gold medal game, Spain will have to finish first in the pool.

Brazil

Brazil is maybe the team with the second-best chance to upset the U.S. at the Olympics. They played Team USA very close in an exhibition losing 80-69 and exploiting USA’s lack of size. They are comprised of NBA talents Anderson Varejao, Nene and Tiago Splitter down low as well as Leandro Barbosa on the wing. Perhaps their best weapon is point guard Marcelinho Huertas who is a Brazilian version of Steve Nash and looked the part against Team USA.

Brazil has an outside shot of winning the pool but is more likely to get a two or three seed. When Brazil and Spain play it should be one of the best games in pool play.

Russia

Russia is led by Andrei Kirilenko who is reportedly playing the best basketball of his career right now, fresh off a championship game appearance with CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague. The Russians are more talented than usual and also feature familiar NBA names in Timofey Mozgov, Viktor Khryapa and Alexey Shved. Their weakness is the guard position though and it will be an adventure for them to handle the pressure a team like the United States will put on them.

Russia should be very competitive with everyone in their pool though and even has some potential to knock off Spain. Kirilenko can take over a game in many ways at times and will have to do so for Russia to advance far in the medal round.

China

China is ranked 10th in the world surprisingly ahead of Brazil and Russia. They are led by Yi Jianlian and Chinese legend Wang Zhizhi. China has certainly improved over the years and Yi is a very talented player but they aren’t really threatening to win a medal in these Olympics.

Expect an unimpressive showing from China. This pool is pretty stacked and they seem the most likely team to disappoint.

Australia

Australia will be without the one player that could have put them into medal contention in Andrew Bogut. They too are also an improving nation with hoops though and will put a decent roster on the floor led by Spurs point guard Patty Mills. They are less international good and more not quite NBA good and that will be a problem. The more experienced countries in this pool should finish ahead of them.

Great Britain

Great Britain is the host country and that’s the only reason they will be playing. Don’t expect much from them despite the fact that they are led by NBA All-Star Luol Deng. They may have the chance to pull off a hometown upset over China or Australia but we shouldn’t expect to see very much good basketball from them.

Team USA just finished off their exhibition tour beating Argentina and Spain in two games played in Spain.

Today after the win yesterday, Durant and Harden decided to go on a Segway tour of Barcelona, Spain.

The key here is that they are all about safety first and are wearing their helmets. Nothing would be worse than an Instagram photo popping up of Durant suffering a severe Segway accident. So Thunder fans needn’t worry there.

It’s great to see Durant and Harden making the most of their Olympic experience so far. It’s a great way for them to get over the crushing NBA Finals defeat from last month.

Durant was second on Team USA in scoring in their five exhibition games averaging 17.6 points per game. He also made 16-of-29 threes in the five games.

Harden played in just four of the games averaging 9.5 minutes per game and scoring 6.0 points per game. Harden was 4-of-11 from three and that’s where he could find some playing time in the Olympics if Team USA is facing a tough zone and needs more shooting on the floor.

Westbrook played 17.6 minutes per game and was fourth on the team averaging 9.4 points per game. Westbrook shot just 41 percent from the field though, second-worst on the team only to Kobe Bryant. Westbrook was a terror pressuring the international guards though and will be a very important part of this team potentially winning gold.

The Olympics are officially underway with some sports but the opening ceremony isn’t until Friday, July 27. Team USA will play its first game Sunday, July 29 vs. France.

Kevin Durant scored 13 points Tuesday afternoon as Team USA beat Spain 100-78 in an exhibition game in preparation for the London Olympics.

Durant scored just three points in the first half but then got it going in the third quarter. He hit a three then got to the rim a few times including this dunk off a Chris Paul assist in which he hit his head on the rim.

Durant’s length is something most international teams haven’t seen before. It’s made him maybe the best player on Team USA as he is able to so easy rise and fire treys from the shorter 3-point line.

Durant is also becoming a better defender and for Team USA has become very effective on defense blocking shots and getting his hands into the passing lanes as international players aren’t used to his length.

The United States went 5-0 in exhibition play over the past two weeks with Durant averaging 17.6 points per game and shooting 50 percent from deep.

Durant is the leading candidate to lead the United States in scoring in the Olympics. LeBron James has slightly edged him in the five exhibition games but Durant did not start the first two games.

One of Durant’s specialties is garbage time baskets. He always has his offense motor going and will clean up a lot of easy buckets for the U.S. when the Olympics start.

The Olympics will start July 27 with Team USA playing their first game July 29 against France.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony led USA Basketball to a 100-78 victory over Spain Tuesday afternoon as the United States improve to 5-0 in exhibition play in preparation for the London Olympics.

LeBron scored 25 points and hit three 3-pointers and Anthony scored 27 with 23 coming in the first half as he was hot from deep making five 3-pointers as well.

The U.S. had a big advantage shooting the three in this game going 13-for-23 while Spain struggled at just 5-for-19.

Kevin Durant got off to a slow start as the United States fell behind early while Spain pounded the ball inside. Durant would finish with 13 points in the game making just one 3-pointer coming off the Argentina game in which he made seven threes.

Russell Westbrook came off the bench to give Team USA a nice little spark with nine points.

Pau Gasol led Spain with 19 points in the game and Serge Ibaka scored all 16 of his points in the first half. Marc Gasol did not play for Spain as he is still nursing a banged up right shoulder.

The United States still stuck to their small lineups although they pretty much had to with Tyson Chandler fouling out in just seven minutes of action. LeBron does a good enough job denying post position but once Spain’s bigs had the ball down low, the interior defense for Team USA was no match.

Spain did what they wanted to in this one. They showed that Team USA was beatable early on then they rested their best guys for much of the remainder of the game as the United States ran away with it.

It’s not as if Team USA played their best players the entire game but they are so much deeper than even Spain that they were able to keep playing at a high level with their bench on the floor.

Spain players made it clear before this game that the result of this exhibition was meaningless and they’d gladly trade a Gold Medal in a few weeks for a loss today.

In 2008, Spain lost to the U.S. in the group play by 37 points and then in the Gold Medal game in Beijing they lost by just 11.

The United States wrap up their exhibition play with a perfect record but still some things to work on. The Olympics officially begin Friday, July 27 but Team USA won’t play its first game until Sunday against France.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

USA Basketball will play its final exhibition game in preparation for the London Olympics today at 4:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2 vs. Spain in Barcelona.

The United States are 4-0 so far in exhibition games beating the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Great Britain and most recently Argentina 86-80 last Sunday afternoon.

Spain is ranked 2nd in the world according to FIBA and will definitely be the biggest test for Team USA so far. Spain is considered maybe the only team with a chance to beat the United States in the coming Olympics and we will find out more about that this afternoon.

Spain beat Argentina by 20 points a few days ago before Argentina lost to the United States by six on Sunday. Spain consists of perhaps the most impressive cast of NBA players besides Team USA with Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Jose Calderon and Rudy Fernandez.

The game will feature four Oklahoma City Thunder players in Ibaka, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Last year’s rookie sensation Ricky Rubio will not be playing in this game or the Olympics as he is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last season.

Spain and the United States played in the memorable 2008 Gold Medal game in Beijing four years ago with the United States coming out on top 118-107.

The balance on Spain’s roster is better than Team USA’s and their talent is high enough to compete as well. The United States are very small and it has been an issue so far in the exhibition games. Spain will do the best job of taking advantage of their inside strength with the Gasol brothers and Ibaka.

The lane to drive will be closed up more than normal for the United States and they will likely continue to settle for jumpers from the short 3-point line. The United States has attempted an average of 28.8 3-pointers in their four exhibition games while shooting .374 percent.

Kevin Durant has certainly led the way leading the team in scoring at 18.8 points per game and has gone 14-for-26 on threes. Durant scored 27 points and made seven threes against Argentina.

Two other gunners for Team USA, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, have been less effective from beyond the arc. Kobe is shooting just .278 percent on threes and Anthony .250 percent. Kobe and Anthony will continue to look for their shots in general and take a lot of threes. One of the potential weaknesses of this team is Kobe and Anthony shooting them out of a game.

Team USA is at its best with Durant and LeBron James on the floor together. In the four exhibition games, they have each played 101 minutes leading the team. Durant started the last two games but did not in the first two as Anthony got the nod. Durant should continue to start though.

LeBron is second on the team averaging 17.0 points per game. His best game was against Brazil when the outcome was most closely in doubt and he took over scoring 30 points to lead the United States to victory.

LeBron’s role is most weighted on his versatility with Team USA especially because of how small they are. LeBron has basically been playing power forward at all times for the U.S., something that will become more challenging when he is matched up with Pau Gasol and Serge Ibaka.

LeBron has shown the capability to contend with the likes of a Gasol on the blocks but for an entire game it is not an ideal matchup for Team USA. LeBron expending that kind of energy on defense will maybe wear him down on offense too, although that shouldn’t be too big of a deal when Durant is on the floor.

The United States has been able to overcome a lack of size by being superior at the wing and guard positions. Their ball pressure on opposing guards is a huge strength although the experience of Spain’s guards, Calderon and Juan Carlos Navarro, should hinder that advantage.

The attention USA will have to pay to the interior on defense may open up more outside shooting looks for Spain too. Not many players are as prepared to pull the trigger on treys as Fernandez and Navarro and if they are hitting, Spain could pull off the upset.

We will learn a lot about Team USA today and see just how big of an issue their lack of size is. Spain will want to win but international teams understand that this is just an exhibition and they sometimes play accordingly, not going all out or showing their entire game plan.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The United States beat Argentina yesterday 86-80 and are now 4-0 in their exhibition games leading up to the 2012 London Olympics.

Kevin Durant had 27 points, six assists and made seven 3-pointers in the game and LeBron James had 15 points, five assists and seven rebounds.

“We started off pretty well, got a couple of shots,” Durant said after the game. “Argentina did a great job of slowing the game down, making the right passes and penetrating and executing. So, it was a good game for us. We learned a lot tonight. We just have to keep getting better for the Olympics and our guys did a good job of playing through everything, playing hard, playing together.”

Durant and LeBron have emerged as the two best players in the NBA and the two best on this team. Believe it or not, Team USA is at its best with them on the floor together.

Team USA has outscored its opponents by 65 points in the 76 minutes Durant and LeBron have played together in the four exhibition games. Team USA won two of the games in blowout fashion but they’re still not dominating in all facets of the game.

The United States are small and they’ve had issues trying to go to smaller lineups. In the 58 minutes of action playing without any true big (Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love or Anthony Davis), the U.S. has been outscored 116-115.

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski has often gone with very small lineups featuring a combination of Durant, LeBron and Carmelo Anthony playing the four and five positions. This looks cool but it really puts the United States at a disadvantage.

This was more common in the first two exhibition games when Krzyzewski brought Durant off the bench. The first sub for Team USA in each game has been taking Chandler out. He was replacing him with Durant at center in the first two games, a move that leaves the United States vulnerable inside.

Krzyzewski will continue to play these small lineups although he should try and limit their time on the floor the most when Team USA plays a team like Spain. One way to make sure Team USA is still in good shape when these lineups occur is to start Durant so he can be out there with LeBron.

Durant is the perfect international player with his ability to easily shoot the shorter three over defenders. He’s a shooter that likes to get shots up early in a game too so coming off the bench doesn’t suit him the best.

LeBron compliments Durant perfectly especially at the start of games where LeBron prefers the distributor role as he feels out the game.

Krzyzewski has started Durant over Anthony in the last two exhibition games but did not in the first two. He has also said that this team essentially has seven starters and it doesn’t matter who he starts.

Durant and LeBron make for the perfect zone buster as well. Durant is the best catch-and-shoot player in the world and LeBron the best skip passer and ball mover in the world. When the United States has LeBron at the free throw line making decisions against the 2-3 zone and Durant is spotting up, good luck world.

It’s not rocket science that Team USA would be better with LeBron and Durant out there together but it’s also not impossible for Krzyzewski to fathom a rotation where the two aren’t necessarily playing together that much.

We’ve just seen exhibition games so far and Krzyzewski is likely to condense the rotation and play Durant and LeBron more minutes when the Olympics start this Friday.

The fact still remains though that Team USA will be at a disadvantage a lot during these Olympic Games. Going small is something we will see a lot of from them and when that happens, they’re not necessarily the best team in the world anymore.

The next test will be their last exhibition vs. Spain Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2. No team has better size than Spain and more potential to upset mighty Team USA.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” Durant said. “They’re on their homecourt. Those guys are big but I think we come out and play hard, play together, we’ll be fine. It will be fun playing against my teammate but on Tuesday, he’s not my teammate , he’s not my friend. I’m going to go out there and give it all for my group of guys and it should be fun.”

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.

Over the past few months, potential hopefuls for the final roster have been dropping like flies. Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will all not be playing this year.

Team USA will still have a pretty good roster and will be the favorites to win the Gold Medal. Jerry Colangelo announced last week that nine of the 12 roster spots were already secured.

Those nine players are: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Blake Griffin is also a lock now to make the final roster leaving two spots to be fought over between four players: Rudy Gay, Andre Iguodala, Eric Gordon and James Harden.

It is likely that the final two spots will be determined by two position battles: Gay vs. Iguodala and Gordon vs. Harden.

Gay vs. Iguodala

Both played on the 2010 World Championships team. Gay played some center for that team while Iguodala was the perimeter defensive specialist.

Looking at the 10 locks for the roster now, 3-point shooting seems like something the team would want to add. Gay is a better 3-point shooter than Iguodala by far but the versatility that Iguodala brings might give him an edge too.

Gay has more size but it is not significant enough. I believe Iguodala will make the team instead of Gay because Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski will want more versatility.

Gordon vs. Harden

This is a great battle between two of the best young shooting guards in the NBA. Gordon has had slightly better numbers throughout his career so far but Harden really came on last season.

Gordon didn’t play much last season and is dealing with some issues this offseason about wanting to leave New Orleans. Harden is working on an extension with the Thunder and would join Durant and Westbrook as the third representative from the Thunder, which could work against him since they like to spread out these kinds of honors.

I think Harden gets the nod at the end of the day. His game is really tailored to the international style and I think Colangelo is really partial to him.

If Harden makes it then the Thunder would be the only team in the NBA sending three players to represent Team USA. Serge Ibaka will also be representing Spain.

Here is my final prediction of the roster:

Anthony Davis severely sprained his ankle in a workout with the Hornets and is now very unlikely to play for Team USA in the Olympics, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Davis was added to the list of finalists for the Team USA roster along with James Harden in reaction to injuries to Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose and a few others.

Since the end of the playoffs, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat have said they will not be going to London to play in the Olympics as they try and recover from being banged up this past season.

Meanwhile, the Thunder still have three players who could compete for the U.S.: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Harden.

The injury to Wade opened up a potential spot for Harden and almost totally ensured that Westbrook would be playing. Durant is of course a shoo-in.

Team USA may be more thin up front now without Davis and Bosh but there aren’t a lot of replacements in terms of big men.

Tyson Chandler and Kevin Love seem like locks now while Blake Griffin might be the only other big for the U.S.

Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Carmelo Anthony, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay and Eric Gordon are the other main hopefuls for the team.

Harden may be able to make the roster since the team will also be short of 3-point shooters. Gordon suffered an injury last season so he may not be fully committed to going which would definitely open up the spot for Harden.

The NBA gave us a taste of the future of basketball in the NBA Finals as both the Heat and Thunder played a lot of small ball. Team USA will have to do that in the Olympics a lot too but the competition may be tougher especially from Spain.

Spain will strut out the Gasol brothers as well as Serge Ibaka and combine that with international rules and the United States will be at a disadvantage against them.

Team USA will begin training in Las Vegas, Nev. July 5-12. On Saturday, July 7, the 12 members of the final roster will be announced at 7 p.m. EST on NBA TV.

Wade will have knee surgery this offseason. Wade had knee problems during the playoffs and had his knee drained at one point.

AP: Dwyane Wade called Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski today to withdraw from Olympic team. He will need knee surgery.

— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 28, 2012

Wade’s absence will open up another guard spot which Thunder players Russell Westbrook and James Harden will both compete for.

Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Eric Gordon and Deron Williams are the only other guards trying out for the team so there is a good chance that Westbrook and/or Harden will make the team alongside Kevin Durant who is a shoo-in.

The Thunder are now the only team in the NBA who could be sending three players to the Olympics to represent the United States. They will also be sending Serge Ibaka who will play for Spain.

Pleiss signed a 4-year deal to play ball in Spain, according to Sportando.

Caja Laboral made official the signings of Fabien Causeur and Tibor Pleiss to a four-year deal. Causeur comes from Cholet with whom he averaged 16ppg in Pro A, Pleiss spent the season with Brose Baskets Bamberg winning the German title averaging 8.3ppg and 5.5rpg in regular season.

The Thunder acquired the rights to Pleiss after he was drafted 31st overall in 2010. Pleiss is a 7-foot-1 center who can step out and hit jumpers. With Nazr Mohammed’s contract ending this summer, Pleiss could have been a potential replacement.

Pleiss averaged 6.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in Euroleague and 10.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in Bundesliga.

Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

The Miami Heat won the NBA championship this season despite not having Dwyane Wade at full strength.

LeBron James took over as the clear “alpha dog” of the team and it all worked out in the end.

After a grueling lockout, 66-game season and four rounds of playoff basketball, Wade is considering not playing in the London Summer Olympics.

“I’ve got to make a decision on what my knee needs and what’s best, because my career and finishing my career strong is what’s important to me,” Wade said. “And I know, yeah, the Olympics are coming up. It’s something I really want to do. But at the same time, if I have to make a big decision, if something has to happen surgery-wise, that will have to be a step I have to take. My loyalty and my commitment to Miami Heat basketball is the No. 1 thing.”

There was some controversy surrounding Wade earlier in the season when he said that he thought NBA players should be compensated for playing in the Olympics.

It’s not a real surprise that Wade would opt out from the team this summer. He is 30 years old, isn’t in perfect health and being healthy for the Heat is his number one priority.

If Wade doesn’t play, that will mean three shoe-ins for the team will now not be playing because Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard will also miss the games with injuries.

That opens up more potential spots for Thunder guards Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

Westbrook has more of a chance than Harden of making the team even before his impressive performance in the playoffs. Harden is pretty much made for international play though. He is a great shooter and even an expert at the “euro-step.”

We know Kevin Durant is a lock for the team so the Thunder have the potential to send three players to represent their country, not to mention Serge Ibaka who will be playing for Spain.

With all of these big names for the Olympics dropping like flies, I think we can now put to rest any chance of 2012 Team USA Basketball beating the 1992 Dream Team.

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.