Olympic Basketball: Previewing USA vs. Argentina Semifinal

At 4 PM Eastern Time, Team USA will take on Argentina in a men’s basketball semifinal.  The game will air on the NBC Sports Network (check your local provider for listings).

Aug 2, 2012; London, United Kingdom; United States center Anthony Davis (14) dunks the ball against Nigeria during the preliminary game in the London 2012 Olympic Games at Basketball Arena. The United States defeated Nigeria 156-73. Image Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The US will resume action in men’s basketball this afternoon against Argentina at the North Greenwich Arena.  Team USA has swept Group A by defeating France, Tunisia, Nigeria, Lithuania and Argentina in Olympic Pool Play this summer.  They have won 15 consecutive games in the Olympics now after defeating Australia in the quarterfinals.  In pool play, they won by an average margin of 38.2 points per game.  Including the quarterfinal, they are winning by an average of 37.3 points per game.

Entering the game, Argentina is 4-2 between the preliminary pool play and the quarterfinal

How they got here:  Argentina was able to qualify for the Olympics by winning the Gold Medal game over Brazil as host at the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship.

Team USA is 5-1 all-time against Argentina in the Olympics.  The teams have met in the semifinals three times and this afternoon will be their fourth (and third consecutive) meeting in the Olympic semifinals.  It was Argentina that prevented the USA team from taking home the Gold Medal in Athens by defeating Team USA in the semifinals.  The last time that these two teams met was in the Group A pool play, where Team USA won 126-97.  This is their third meeting in 20 days.

Team USA has a record of 16-2 in the semifinals with a winning percentage of .889.  They are 2-1 mark against Argentina in the semis. Team USA’s two losses came against the USSR (1988) and Argentina in 2004. In 1960, the semifinals only consisted of pool play and Team USA went 3-0.

Olympic Pool Play record: 79-2 (97.4%)
All-Time Olympic Record: 128-5 (96.1%)
All-Time National Team Record: 115-7

In 6 Olympic games so far, former Kentucky Wildcats star Anthony Davis has played a total of 48 minutes, averaging 9.6 minutes a game.  He’s scored 26 points, an average of 5.2 points per game.  He’s picked up 17 rebounds, an average of 3.4 rebounds per game.  In the 5 contests, Davis has only blocked 3 shots.  Davis did not see any action during Saturday’s game against Lithuania.

Team USA would play the winner of the Russia vs. Spain semifinal on Sunday.

Probable Starters
United States
F – Kevin Durant
F – LeBron James
C – Tyson Chandler
G – Kobe Bryant
G- Chris Paul

Argentina
F – Andres Nocioni
F – Carlos Delfino
C – Luis Scola
G – Manu Ginobili
G -Pablo Prigioni