The Semifinals of Men’s basketball for the 2008 Olympics began today, and the games were as good as predicted.  In the first game, defending champion Spain went up against a very determined Lithuanian squad that looked to vie for the championship for the first time in their Olympic history.  The game was very close even until the end of the game, but Spain was able to hang on to the 5 point win to move to the Finals.  Pau Gasol scored 19 points while Rudy Fernandez scored 18 points to lead Spain’s attack.  The game was a see-saw battle that saw the lead change 10 times with each team never leading by more than 8 points all game, and saw 9 ties.  Simas Jasaitis scored 19 points and had 5 three’s to keep Lithuania at pace with the defending champs, while Sarunas Jasikevicius also had 19 points to go with 6 dimes.  Lithuania hit 12 three’s, 8 more than their rivals, but the statistic that killed them was points scored in the paint.  Spain had 42 big points, in large part due to Gasol, while Lithuania only had 24.

In the end, Spain dug deep to pull this one out, as Lithuania would have had a better chance if Linas Kleiza played better than he did.  The Nuggets forward did not even score a single point in 11 minutes of action and missed all 4 of his shots from the field. Another thing to note here, is that Jose Calderon did not even play in the game and still Spain won.  No news of an injury, so it is curious why he did not play in the game and if he will play in the Finals.

MEN’S BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
SPAIN 91 – LITHUANIA 86
USA 101 – ARGENTINA 81

And in the main match, Argentina tried their very best to make it a game and try to upset the powerhouse USA squad but just couldn’t do it with Manu Ginobili’s unfortunate foot injury in the first quarter.  The Americans jumped to a huge 20 point lead and looked like they were going to blow Argentina out of the building with Kobe scoring 12 points while Melo scored 8 points.  But as the 2nd quarter began, Argentina slowly chipped away at that huge lead and came back off the kamikaze drives of Andres Nocioni and the solid inside plays of Luis Scola.  From a 20 point deficit they were able to slice the lead down to 6 points by halftime even without Manu on the floor.

But as the 3rd quarter went underway, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard dominated and started scoring at will, bumping the lead back up to 16 points by the middle of the quarter. At this point, Melo had shot 13 of 13 free throws by himself, while the whole Argentinian team was shooting 15 of 16 free throws! Andres Nocioni also got injured and did not play after the first half anymore.  Losing Manu was one thing, but losing Nocioni was the backbreaker, and Argentina just couldn’t do much else without them. The 4th quarter saw Lebron James coming out to score 2 straight three’s and another bucket to stretch the lead up to 19 points.  Carlos Delfino and Luis Scola tried their best to keep the Argentinians in it, but losing Manu and Nocioni was just too big a handicap to overcome. In the end, the USA beat them by 20 points, in large part due to the unfortunate handicap dealt to the Argentinians.

Luis Scola led them with 28 points and 11 rebounds off another great performance, while Carlos Delfino backed him up with 17 points.  The USA was led by Carmelo Anthony who shot very poorly on the floor but shot a perfect 13 of 13 from the line, leading a charge of 7 players scoring in double figures for the Americans. It is highly doubtful that Spain will be able to upset the USA, but Sunday should be the last chance for any kind of upset.

Highlights: DAY 14: Thursday 08 22 08 (697MB)
Basketball Semifinals: SF Results Summary
Basketball Semifinals: SF Detailed Box Scores
Basketball Semifinals: Day 14 SF Matches Highlights (348MB)
Basketball Semifinals: Spain vs Lithuania Match Download (702MB)
Basketball Event: Overall Stat Leaders