The U.S.A. Men’s basketball team finished the preliminary games with a perfect 5-0 record after decisively beating a well respected Argentinian team, 126-97 earlier today.
Kevin Durant (28 points, 8-10 from three) and co. head into the Olympic quarterfinals as the no. 1 overall seed, and will play against Australia on Wednesday as they take another step towards gold.
The U.S. are heavily favored to repeat as Olympic champions, despite their lack of size and consistency to shoot behind the three-point mark.
Many analysts and commentators believe the Spaniards, led by the veteran point guard Juan Carlos Navarro and the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc, will have the best chance to upset the reigning Olympic champions.
It would be a rematch of 2008’s Summer Olympic gold medal game if both the U.S.A. and Spain can take care of business in their respective brackets, and make it to this year’s gold medal game.
In 2008, The U.S., led by a 27-point effort from Dwayne Wade and 20 points from Kobe Bryant beat the Spaniards 118-107 to win gold in Beijing.
Five players from that 2008 gold medal team are on this year’s team, one of those being LeBron James, who hopes to join a short list of American Olympians that have won an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year.
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