By Charles F. Gardner
Friday, Aug 22 2008
Team USA built an early 17-point lead and battled its way to a 101-81 victory over Argentina in an Olympic basketball semifinal today at Wukesong Arena.
The Americans will face Spain in the gold-medal game at 1:30 a.m. Sunday (Milwaukee time).
Carmelo Anthony led a balanced U.S. attack with 21 points, and LeBron James added 15. Luis Scola topped Argentina with 28 points, but the defending Olympic champion was hampered when Manu Ginobili had to leave the game with an ankle injury in the first quarter.
Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul added 12 points apiece for the U.S., which hit 32 of 68 field goals, including 10 of 31 from three-point range. The U.S. also pounded the ball inside and had a healthy advantage at the free throw line, converting 27 of 36 foul shots to Argentina's 15 of 16.
Chris Bosh added 11 points and 11 rebounds in another strong performance off the bench. Starting center Dwight Howard contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.
Argentina went to a zone defense in the second quarter and closed a huge early deficit.
Milwaukee Bucks star Michael Redd played at the end of the first half and grabbed a key rebound in the final seconds after a Carlos Delfino miss. Bryant missed a drive at the other end, but the U.S. maintained possession and called a timeout. Anthony then was fouled and sank three free throws, giving the U.S. a 49-40 lead at halftime.
Delfino finished with 17 points and Andres Nocioni added 10 for Argentina, which will play Lithuania in the bronze-medal game.
Anthony became quite upset after a hard foul suffered by Howard in the third quarter, and other U.S. players restrained Anthony, the Denver Nuggets star.
Howard missed two foul shots on the play, but Jason Kidd found Howard for a dunk on the enusing U.S. possession, and Anthony then hit a jumper for a 63-46 lead.
Wade, the former Marquette star, said the U.S. squad would be wary of Spain, despite an easy victory over the Spaniards in group play.
"It doesn't matter. That was pool play," the Miami Heat guard said. "I'm sure they could have played better. It's going to be a tough game.
"They're not in the championship game for no reason. This team won the championship in '06, and now they're back to the championship game. They're improving. We're going to have to go out there and beat them. Just like Argentina. We're going to have to go out there and knock them off. We know it's going to be a tough game, but we're prepared."
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