Olympic Basketball: Argentina 82, Brazil 77

The Golden Generation still has a little shine to them.

Luis Scola scored 17points, Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino had 16 each and Andres Nocioni added 12 as the Amazing Argentines made it to the semifinal round of the Olympic Basketball Tournament. Ginobili also grabbed 8 rebounds, Delfino had 7, Nocioni had 6 and Scola grabbed 4. 

Olympic Basketball: Russia 83, Lithuania 74

In the end, there was just too much Kirilenko.

Andrei Kirilenko wreaked havoc from opening tip to final buzer, scoring 19 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, dishing out 3 assists, blocking 3 shots, getting 3 steals with just 1 turnover in his most dominant performance yet. Timofey Mozgov was the surprise of the match, scoring 17 points and grabbing 4 rebounds.

Lithuania was led, surprisingly, by Rimantas Kaukenas, who scored 19 points and Darius Songaila, who had 15points. Having a bad offensive night was Linas Kleiza, who scored just 4 points on 1-7 FG.

Russia advances against the winner of the Spain-France match.

Olympic Basketball: Russia 32, Lithuania 27 (Halftime)

It's halftime and the Russian have led all throughout the first half. Andrei Kirilenko started out like a house on fire and leads Russia with 9points and 9 rebounds. Timofey Mozgov has been effective early on, with 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Olympic Basketball: A Preview Part II

Here's Part II of our Olympic basketball preview!

Spain vs France - This is interesting because it is one of two games featuring teams that are seemingly headed in opposite directions. Spain was expected to win their bracket but instead, lost to both Russia and (fortunately) Brazil. This put them in 3rd place, providential because it kept them well away from Team USA (until the gold medal match, that is). Did they tank? Hard to say but I don't think so. I find it hard to believe that the proud Spaniards (Gasol brothers, Ibaka, Navarro etc) would be willing parties to tanking. France, on the other hand, is playing excellently (after the rough loss to Team USA). They shocked Argentina to take the second seed but drew the tougher draw in the knock out semifinals. Parker, Batum and Diaw are playing really well and I'd say they are the current darlings of Olympic basketball (but only because Tunisia is out of the picture already).

Key match up - Tony Parker vs Juan Carlos Navarro, Boris Diaw/Ronnie Turiaf vs Pau/Marc Gasol. This game is particularly mouthwatering because we've got several sets of world class players squaring off. Parker has been phenomenal in the last few games and should be able to manhandle his man but Navarro is a wily international veteran who can shoot from long range. On the other side of the spectrum, the Gasol brothers are on a much higher level than Turiaf or Diaw but Turiaf is a legit defensive presence while Diaw has more weapons than either Gasol.

Prediction: Spain 80, France 78 (OT)

Olympic Basketball: A Preview Part I

So here we are at the quarterfinal round of the Basketball Tournament of the London Olympics. This is the start of the knock out phase so it's "loser-foes-home" time.

The matchups have been finalized so let's take a quick look at what we can expect tonight.

Oh-lympic Basketball: France On The Rise?

There's a team that rapidly rising to through the ranks of Olympic basketball and everyone's taking notice.

France, a team more known for its football players rather than its basketball players are suddenly making other traditional basketball powerhouses sit up and take notice.

Oh-lympic Basketball: US 98 vs France 71

For about one quarter, Team USA vs France was very much a basketball game. The French matched the intensity, fierceness and athleticism of the American to go down by only 1point, 22-21, in the first quarter. And then, the Americans turned it up another notch.

Kobe Bryant scored 5 straight points in the first 2mins of the second quarter as part of the 11-0 run by the Americans to put them up by 12points, which would be the closest France would get in the next 3quarters.

Oh-lympics: Basketball

Highlights of the exhibition match between Argentina and Team USA.

Oh-lympics: Basketball

The team whom everyone expects to strike gold is, of course, Team USA.

But their path to Olympic gold has never been trickier than this year, even considering the 2004 debacle. That's because in 2004, no one really thought it was possible, until Argentina eliminated the Americans in the semifinal match.

This year, there are about 3 teams that have an actual shot at dethroning the Americans. Let's break them down in order of possibility.