 For Team USA, a job half done
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-23 10:36
The United States basketball team has gone one step further than what it achieved at the 2004 Olympics. It had finished a disappointing third then, but last night they made partial amends by beating the team that eliminated them in the 2004 semifinals, Argentina. While the scoreline read 101-81 in the Americans' favor, it was by far their toughest game in this tournament yet, as the South Americans refused to yield until fizzling out late. The US will face world champions Spain, which also survived a big fright to edge out Lithuania 91-86, after a physical game of flying elbows and flagrant fouls. Carmelo Anthony led the US with 21 points, as six of his teammates had double-digit scores. Argentina's Luis Scola, who plays for the NBA's Houston Rockets, paced the South Americans with 28 points. Eager to redeem themselves, the Americans burst out of the blocks, using an 18-0 run to blow the game open at 21-4 in the first quarter. However, Argentina keyed an 11-0 run of its own in the second quarter, cutting the lead to a mere nine points. Stung, the US stepped up their defense in the third quarter, forcing turnovers that led to easy points. This time, Argentina ran out of steam in the fourth quarter as the Americans wrapped up the game. In the earlier semifinal, forward Pau Gasol scored 19 points, while guard Rudy Fernandez sparked a fourth-quarter charge to add 18, as Spain fought back from four points down after three quarters against a physical Lithuania. Said Spanish guard Raul Lopez: "We are in the Olympic final. There are a lot of emotions right now. I am very happy we won, even though we had some bad moments." Spain is looking to add an Olympic title to the world championship it won two years ago in Japan. The European nation's only Olympic medal in men's basketball came at the 1984 Games when they took silver behind the U.S. Its only loss in Beijing was a 119-82 blowout by the Americans in the group stage. Agencies (China Daily 08/23/2008 page16) |
