The Quarterfinals for Men’s basketball in the Olympics finally began today. In the first game, Spain defeated Croatia by 13 points, as the Croats just couldn’t find a way to stop Pau Gasol. The Lakers center scored a game-high 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting with 10 rebounds and ZERO turnovers. Felipe Reyes and Jose Calderon scored 13 points and 10 points respectively to pace Spain’s double digit scorers. Croatia had Marko Banic score 15 points in an almost perfect game, while the Nets Zoran Planinic scored 12 points to round up the Croats double figure scorers. Spain started the game on fire as they jumped to a 10-1 lead and never looked back. They built a lead as high as 24 points midway through the 3rd quarter and that was all she wrote for Croatia. There was really no statistic that spelled their doom except for the fact that they shot only 38% from the field, while Spain shot 49%. All other stats were almost even.

In the second game of the day, Lithuania handily beat the home squad China by 26 points, and moved on to the semifinals to meet Spain. The first quarter was a close one but Lithuania pulled away in the 2nd and never looked back after that. They shot a blistering 54% compared to China’s 36% and buried 13 three’s compared to China’s 4. Yao Ming and Yi Jinlian scored 19 points and 11 points each, but that was far from enough as the Lithuanians had all guns blazing with Sarunas Jasikevicius leading the way with 23 points on 5 of 6 shooting from three point range, and 88% from the floor all game. It was just the perfect time for him to wax hot, as well as his three other teammates who also scored in double figures. It should be one heck of a matchup with Spain in the next round.

MEN’S BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:
SPAIN 72 – CROATIA 59
LITHUANIA 94 – CHINA 68
USA 116 – AUSTRALIA 85
ARGENTINA 80 – GREECE 78

The third game of the day featured the juggernaut USA squad against the Aussies, and as expected, this game was over when the 2nd quarter ended. The most likely strategy the Americans wanted to employ was to get Andrew Bogut in foul trouble, and they got that easily in the first quarter. Bogut went straight to the bench with his 2 early fouls and played a total of 11 minutes all game because he also got injured and scored 4 measly points. The Aussies got pounded after that as the USA had the usual 5 players scoring double figures with Kobe leading the way with 25 points, and Lebron and Melo scoring 16 points and 15 points respectively. How scary is this US squad? Considering they utterly destroyed Australia, they shot a pathetic 58% from the free throw line, the only weakness this team actually has. Let’s see how this pans out when they play a very good free throw shooting team like Argentina in the semifinals.

And the last game of the day featured two great European squads in Argentina and Greece, and the game did not disappoint. From the start of the game until it ended, the largest lead was only 7 points, and each quarter ended with each team leading by just ONE point. The final score, Argentina winning by merely 2 points, and almost got beat by a last second three by Spanoulis too. This was probably one of the best games ever played in a men’s basketball game in the Olympics. It was so close, everytime one team went ahead, the other would immediately claw right back and tie the game. Manu Ginobili was his usual amazing self as he led Argentina with 24 big points on crisp passes to teammates and clutch threes. He buried 6 of them in the game, and finally had Carlos Delfino back him up with 5 of his own. Delfino chose the perfect time to wake up as he scored 23 points to keep apace with Manu, while Nocioni and Scola scored 12 points and 11 points respectively for Team Argentina. It was a valiant effort by the Greeks, as Fotsis and Tsartsaris played unbelievable games to make this matchup a really memorable one. Too bad someone had to lose, but I’m glad Argentina came out on top as they have the best chance, in my opinion, to keep in step with the US team. That will be an almost impossible task but if there’s any team that can do it, it’s this Argentinian squad.

The exciting Semifinal games will begin 2 days from now, and the matchups have been set. Spain will go up against Lithuania in a very intriguing match, while the powerhouse “Redeem Team” from the USA will face Argentina. It will be nothing short of a miracle if the USA didn’t win GOLD in the 2008 Olympics, but who knows, Argentina or Spain might just have one last shocker to pull off.

Highlights: DAY 12: Tuesday 08 20 08 (697MB)
Basketball Quarterfinals: QF Results Summary
Basketball Quarterfinals: QF Detailed Box Scores
Basketball Event: Overall Stat Leaders