Team USA is just two wins away from winning a gold medal and continuing their dominance in the international competition. Before they can get to Sunday’s gold medal game, they must get past Argentina yet again, as today’s game will be the team’s third meeting in the last three weeks.
Team USA is heavily favored (Vegas has them winning by 24) and Argentina’s Manu Ginobili is being realistic, telling Patrick Graham of Reuters:
“The odds are against us. We have a 10 percent or even a five percent chance of winning but we are going to fight for this. We are going to try and turn the ball over less. Make a few shots in the second half and don’t let them run. Then if they get inspired and LeBron (James) or Kobe Bryant or someone get hot and hit 20 threes like they did in the last game, then there’s nothing you can do.”
Argentina coach Julio Lamas, shares similar thoughts: “If you play five minutes badly, they can kill you, they’ll score 20 points. We need to play the perfect game, for 40 minutes.”
Argentina is a proud team with impressive wins against Team USA in the 2002 FIBA World Championships and at the 2004 Summer Olympics. This confidence was shown at Monday’s Team USA win with Argentina keeping things physical and perhaps chippy. But as this 2010 Li Ning Argentina commercial shows, the team can already break free from killer plants so they should be able to hold their own against Team USA especially, since an Olympic medal is on the line.
Does Argentina have any chance of beating Team USA?
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