Olympic Men’s Basketball: Day 8 Recap

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Nigeria 90 – Croatia 76

Nigeria concluded Saturday’s action with their first win of these Olympics over Croatia. The victory was due in large part to Nigeria’s ability to knock down the three, they hit 17 on the evening and shot 47.2% from behind the arc.  Croatia has now split their four contests thus far.

NBA Watch 

Nigeria

Michael Gbinije (Detroit Pistons): 8 points

Croatia

Bojan Bogdanovic (Brooklyn Nets): 28 points

Spain 109 – Lithuania 59 

One of the favorites for to challenge the United States for gold, Spain’s Olympic campaign sputtered out of the gates as the team lost it’s first two games. But, they look to have turned things around and won their second-straight game on Sunday in a rout of Lithuania. Their ball movement was impeccable throughout and slick passing broke down Lithuania’s defense time and time again, Spain finished with an impressive 31 assists in the win.

NBA Watch 

Spain

Pau Gasol (San Antonio Spurs): 23 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds

Nikola Mirotic (Chicago Bulls): 17 points

Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves): 11 points, 4-for-5 shooting

Lithuania

Mindaugas Kuzminskas (New York Knicks): 17 points

Argentina 111 – Brazil 107

Olympic hosts Brazil battled with rival Argentina over four quarters and two overtimes with Argentina eventually securing the win in this thrilling contest to start Saturday’s group play action. In front of a raucous Brazilian crowd both teams played inspired ball and fed off the resounding energy permeating from the stands and unto the floor. In the end Andres Nocini, and Facundo Campazzo propelled the Argentinians to victory, combining for 70 points in the victory.

NBA Watch

Argentina

Manu Ginobili (San Antonio Spurs): 13 points, 4 assists

Luis Scola (Brooklyn Nets): 14 points, 10 rebounds

Patricio Garino (San Antonio Spurs): 10 points, 4 rebounds

Brazil

Nene (Houston Rockets): 24 points, 11 rebounds

Marcelo Huertas (Los Angeles Lakers): 14 points

Leandro Barbosa (Phoenix Suns): 11 points, 5 rebounds

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