U.S. Beats Argentina, Advances To Basketball Finals Against Spain For Olympic Gold

by UInterviewAugust 11, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

In a rematch of the Olympic final in Beijing 2008, U.S. will be facing Spain on the basketball court once again on Sunday in London, vying for another gold. “Anything less than this would have been unsatisfying for us,” Carmelo Anthony (pictured) said to OnlineAthens of the team’s advancement to the finals after a solid win against Argentina. “We believed that we could get here, and we’re here now. We got one game left.”

In the semifinal against Argentina, U.S. Kevin Durant pocketed an impressive 19 points, while Anthony and LeBron James scored 18 each, bringing the total to 109 versus Argentina’s 83 in the third consecutive Olympic semifinal between the two big wigs. “We had a great run in the first half,” Argentina’s Manu Ginobili, who scored 18 points, said of the game. “We started the third very well. And then we blinked.” The U.S. stepped it up in the third quarter. “You have three scorers on this team who get blistering hot if they make two shots in a row,” Kobe Bryant said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

As Argentina goes on to play Russia for bronze, No. 1 U.S. gears up to face the world’s second best, Spain. Although they beat the Spanish team 118-107 in the last Olympics, the Americans say they’re not celebrating yet. “It’s been a fun ride, but we want to compete on Sunday,” forward Kevin Love admitted. “We’ll have a difficult challenge with Spain because they’re really big. But they’ll have a challenge with us, too,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the match, which will see the Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol team up with brother Marc Gasol against many of his teammates.