Men's Basketball Review Day 6: Top ranked teams advance

(BEIJING, August 20) -- With no surprise results, yet so shortage of exciting action, Spain, Lithuania, the United States and Argentina all defeated their lower-ranked opponents to advance through the first day of knockout play in the Men's Basketball tournament on Wednesday, August 20.

A 20-point performance by Pau Gasol helped Spain with a 72-59 quarterfinal victory over World No. 20 Croatia in the first quarterfinal match of the day.

The world champions never trailed in the game and established an early 11-point lead on the back of a tight zone defense that denied Croatia a field goal until 6:30 minutes into the match.

"Spain played better today," said Croatia's star guard Zoran Planinic. "They take risks. I always say that they either win by 20 or they lose by 20. Today they won by 20."

With the exception of Spain, the other three teams who won today also advanced to the semifinals in Athens.

World No. 5 Lithuania beat China 94-68 to advance to their fifth consecutive Olympic semifinals. Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius put on a show scoring 23 points, including five of six three-pointers, while adding six assists and three steals in 25 minutes.

Lithuanian guard Rimantas Kaukenas said his team was focused on defense. "That was the point of the game, to try to contain and make it difficult for them to make three-point shots, as well as to concentrate on the guards and the perimeter to stop three pointers."

China's head coach Jonas Kazlauskas, who hails from Lithuania, says this Olympic tournament shows his team has the ability to compete at the highest level, but the players still need more experience. "We need more players in clubs in other countries. The first thing we need on the court is a world-class point guard."

Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 25 points to steer the United States to a 116-85 win over Australia. The result marks a seventh straight appearance in the Olympics medal round for Team USA, while the Boomers bow out at this point.

Australia made itself noticed in the first quarter, where it kept the score tight, but the team also made an interesting decision to call the US players by their numbers instead of their names on the court.

"We came out here and the whole point was to get respect," said Australian guard CJ Bruton. "When you saw so many superstars on the court, you felt a dream come true. But we weren't scared, and we even put them in a difficult situation."

Finally, Argentina edged Greece 80-78 to ensure they will meet the United States in the semifinal, just like the team did in the 2004 Olympics.

This game was tense throughout, with no less than 15 lead changes. It came down to the wire when Argentina led 80-75 after a drive and left-handed lay-up from Manu Ginobili.

Greece called a timeout and when play resumed, Panagiotis Vasilopoulos banked a three to close the gap to 80-78.

After an Argentina timeout, Ginobili waited until there was 10 seconds left on the clock before missing a three-pointer. The ball was recovered and rushed down the floor by Greece's Vasilis Spanoulis, who missed the long-bomb that would have reversed his team's fate.

After Argentina's players celebrated their victory wildly on the floor, Luis Scola says they have no more time for celebration.

"Now we think about the United States."