US basketball team looking forward to tough fight against Argentina – Olympics News
The US men basketball team has so far not been challenged in the London Olympics, and the pre competition favourites have made it to the semifinals of the tournament without any major scare. Their stars have all had a good few
games to warm themselves up, and Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have had games in which they have led their team to success.
But come Friday, when the US team takes on Argentina in the semi final, they know that they will need to bring their best possible game if they want to beat the South American giants, ranked number three in the world.
“It's not going to be easy so we've got to come out there and play hard from the beginning to give ourselves a chance," said U.S forward and three point specialist Kevin Durant.
The Argentinean squad is a veteran one, led by Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola, both of whom play in the NBA and are very well familiar with the superstars in the American lineup.
Argentina defeated US in the semi final of the 2004 Olympics en route to a gold medal finish. Americans however got revenge in the 2008 Beijing Olympics when they defeated Argentina in the semi final and finished with a gold medal.
This is the third time in three Olympics that the two sides will be facing each other in the semi finals. If history is to be believed, the winner of the game will go on to win the gold medal.
The U.S side defeated Argentina 86-80 in an exhibition game in Barcelona days before the Olympics kicked off, and then took a 126-97 victory in a pool game against them last Monday.
However, the Argentine side know that the U.S team is beatable, and the fact that they were given a tough time by Australia in the quarter final is testament to this belief.
“I think it is possible to beat the USA. Victory is possible,” said Juan Pedro Gutierrez.
“We need to play a perfect game. That's for sure. They are an athletic team, they play hard. They're great shooters. Durant killed us with threes before. But it's five-on-five. Anything can happen,” added Andres Nocioni.
Both teams like to play aggressive, and the U.S team knows that they will have to bring the game to the Argentineans if they want to qualify for the gold medal game. It will be an interesting and intense match up to say the least.
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