The penultimate day of group-stage play turned out to be the most decisive of the Olympic men's basketball tournament in Beijing. With still another game left for all teams on Monday, the eight quarterfinalists are known, as are both group winners and second-place teams. Lithuania locked up Group A with a comeback win over Croatia, which also qualified. Argentina clinched second place while stopping Iran on Saturday, but the big news in this group was Australia rising up for its own quarterfinal spot by ousting Russia in their head-to-head matchup. Croatia needs only to defeat winless Iran or have Lithuania defeat Australia in order to finish third in the group. Conversely, Australia needs to win while Croatia loses in order to avoid fourth place. Why the Aussies would want to avoid fourth is because the United States finished first in Group A by blowing out second-place Spain by 39 points, thereby establishing itself as the clear favorite for the gold medal. At the same time, Greece and China qualified for the quarterfinals with victories and will settle third and fourth place in Group B between them on Monday.
 Greece registered its second win in Group B and set a big showdown against Greece in the finl day of this stage by simply overwhelming Angola 102-61 at Wukesong Arena. Greece improved to 2-2 and is all but mathematically qualified to the quarterfinals due to its 23-point win against Germany. Meanwhile, Angola dropped to 0-4 and will finish sixth in Group B. Ioannis Bouroussis paced the winners with 22 points on 9-for-9 two-pointers in just 13 minutes. His Olympiacos teammates Giorgios Printezis and Panos Vasilopoulos added 13 and 10 points, respectively, while Andreas Gliniakadis had 11 for Greece. Eduardo Mingas had 23 points for Angola while Luis Costa had 16 for the African champs. Greece went scoreless in the opening 3 minutes, while Mingas and Joaquim Gomes gave Angola a 0-5 lead. It didn't last long, however, as Vassilis Spanoulis of Panathinaikos got Greece going with a driving layup, igniting a 12-0 run that Vasilopoulos capped with a put-back basket, good for a 12-5 lead. Angola did not score for 6 minutes but consecutive baskets by Mingas and a fast break dunk by Luis Costa brought the African champions within 12-11 after 10 minutes. Panathinaikos stars Antonis Fotsis and four-time Euroleague Best Defender award winner Dimitris Diamantidis stepped up with back-to-back triples, as Greece improved its defense early in the second quarter. Fotsis hit free throws to boost the Greek lead to double digits, 22-11, after a 10-0 run. Mingas kept pacing Angola but Bouroussis kept Greece ahead, 31-23. Former Euroleague MVP Theo Papaloukas, his Olympiacos teammate Michalis Pelekanos and Nikos Zisis of CSKA each struck from downtown while Bouroussis added a three-point play for a 43-28 Greek lead at halftime. Angola tried to speed up the game tempo after the break, but Greece kept finding an unstoppable Bouroussis for easy baskets. A back-door layup by Spanoulis made it a 20-point game, 52-32. Greece kept excelling in defense and Angola did not find any answers now. Meanwhile, the ever-present Bouroussis, Zisis and Printezis broke the game open, 81-42, after 30 minutes. The outcome was already clear and Greece opted to rest its main players for the decisive game against China. Angola only tried to rally in the final 6 minutes but it was already too little, too late for the African champions.
 Australia landed in the Olympic men's basketball quarterfinals and eliminated European champion Russia with a clear 80-95 victory in their do-or-die Group A showdown at Wukesong Arena in Beijing on Saturday. Andrew Bogut and C.J. Bruton led the winners with 22 points apiece. Matt Nielsen of Lietuvos Rytas and former All-Euroleague center David Andersen of FC Barcelona each had 11 for the Boomers. Current Euroleague champion J.R. Holden of CSKA Moscow led Russia with 20 points. His CSKA teammates Viktor Khryapa and Aleksey Savrasenko added 19 and 16 points, respectively. Khryapap nailed 6 of 6 three-pointers and grabbed 9 rebounds. Bogut and Bruton fueled a 0-5 opening run for the Boomers, as Russia went scoreless in the opening 2 minutes. Savrasenko got Russia going with consecutive layups but Bruton and Nielsen answered from downtown to keep Australia ahead, 6-11. Savrasenko kept pacing Russia while a six-meter jumper by Holden brought his team within 12-13. Former ULEB Cup MVP Chris Anstey, Mark Worthington and Andersen helped Australia to get a double-digit lead, 16-27, after 10 minutes. Andersen buried a triple and soon added a jump hook to cap a 0-13 Australian run, 16-32. Holden and Khryapa tried to change things for Russia, but Worthington and Bogut answered to keep a 16-point Australian lead, 26-42. Russia tried to get Holden involved off a timeout but the Boomers kept full control of the game. A floating layup by Bogut fixed the halftime score at 33-49. Russia opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run in which Sergey Bykov of Dynamo Moscow had 5 points, enough for Australia to call timeout at 42-49. Bogut stepped up right when his team needed him while Newley added a dunk in traffic to give the Boomers some fresh air, 44-56. Russia found a go-to guy in Holden but Andersen and Bruton answered in the other end. Bogut hit his second three-pointer in this quarter to restore a 16-point Australian lead, 48-64. Three-pointers by Andrei Vorontsevich and his CSKA teammate Holden brought Russia within 55-69 after 30 minutes. It was do-or-die time for Russia, that needed to win to stay in the medal race. Bruton fired in his fourth triple while Newley added a power layup. Bogut provided a highlight with a monster dunk-and-foul that sealed the outcome, 62-81, as Russia could not recover despite a wild rally in the final 4 minutes.
 Lithuania became the Group A champion by downing Croatia 73-86 at Wukesong Arena in Saturday's third game. Both teams have mathematically advanced to the quarterfinals, which take place on Wednesday. Lithuania clinched first place already despite having a game to play against Australia. Meanwhile, Croatia will finish third in this group if it downs Iran on Monday. Mindaugas Lukauskis of Lietuvos Rytas paced the winners with 20 points off the Lithuanian bench. Linas Kleiza sank 4 triples in the fourth quarter on his way to 18 points while Simas Jasaitis of DKV Joventut had 12 for Lithuania. Roko Ukic had 13 points for Croatia, Zoran Planinic of Tau Ceramica added 11 while Marko Banic of iurbentia Bilbao Basket got 10. Lithuania struggled to score in the opening 4 minutes, while Davor Kus of Unicaja and Ukic gave Croatia a 6-2 edge. Lithuania called a much-needed timeout but Croatia was all over the place in defense. Kus sank another jumper while Ukic made free throws for a 12-4 Croatian lead. Lukauskis and three-time Euroleague winner Sarunas Jasikevicius of Panathinaikos brought Lithuania back to life, 15-13, after 10 minutes. Croatia stick on its game plan, with strong defense and a distributed offense, trying to get everyone involved. A close jumper by Kresimir Loncar of Unics Kazan and a jump hook by Benetton center Sandro Nicevic made it an eight-point game, 23-15. A corner triple by Marin Rozic of Cibona made Lithuania call timeout at 30-17, after a 12-2 run. Jasaitis and Jasikevicius stepped up for Lithuania while three-pointers by Lukauskis and reigning Euroleague MVP Ramunas Siskauskas of CSKA Moscow brought their team within 35-30. An outstanding Ksistof Lavrinovic of Montepaschi Siena and a final layup by Marijonas Petravicius of L. Rytas got Lithuania even closer, 45-42, at halftime. Both teams struggled to score after the break, as the game turned into a physical battle. Lithuania made the most out of it, as an unstoppable Lukauskis and a power layup by Petravicius put their team ahead for the first time, 51-52, midway through this period. Lukauskis - who else? - kept pacing Lithuania with 5 quick points but Planinic answered with consecutive triples in an 8-0 run that Ukic capped with a layup for a 62-58 Croatian edge after 30 minutes. Croatia slowed down the game tempo early in the fourth quarter but couldn't find easy shots. Meanwhile, Kleiza, Jasikevicius and Jasikevicius combined for all points in a 0-11 run that put Lithuania back ahead, 62-69. Kleiza buried his third bomb from downtown in this period while Javtokas scored twice inside to make it a 13-point game, 65-78, with 4 minutes to go. Jasaitis capped a game-breaking 3-24 run and everything was already said and done, as an incredible turnaround three-pointer by Siskauskas sealed the Lithuanian win in style.
 Defending gold medalists Argentina secured second place in Group A by putting away Iran 82-97 at the Olympic men's basketball tournament on Saturday in Beijing. Argentina raised its record to 3-1 and will finish second regardless of whether it wins or loses the last group-stage game against already-eliminated Russia on Monday. With the loss, Iran fell to 0-4 and elimination in its first Olympics appearance. The Iranians stayed fairly close to Argentina until the middle of the third quarter, when Manu Ginobili's 3 three-pointers in less than a minute-and-a-half turned the tide for good. Ginobili finished with 32 points, the highest total so far in the tournament by any player, in 27 minutes. Luis Scola follwed with 20 points, while Pablo Prigioni of Tau Ceramica had 11 to go with 6 assists. Iran big man Hamed Ehadadi posted a double-double of 21 points, 16 rebounds. Iran came out firing and with 3 three-pointers between Hamed Afagh Eslamieh and Javad Davari took an early 11-7 lead. Argentina turned to Ginobili for 5 unanswered points in response, but Iman Zandi buried Iran's fourth triple to retake a 14-13 advantage. Fabricio Oberto and Ginobili combined on 6 points, however, as Argentina went up 14-19 after one quarter. Scola joined the scoring with 6 points in a row early in the second quarter as Argentina's lead hit 17-25, but Afagh Eslamieh 's third triple and big man Ehadadi getting going in the paint got Iran back to within 23-25. Prigioni stepped up now for Argentina, scoring twice from long-range to make it 27-35. Even though Afagh Eslamieh answered with his fourth three-pointer in as many tries, Argentina held onto a 33-42 halftime lead. The second half opened with yet another Iran triple, this by Mohammadsamad Nikkhah, and when Ehadadi scored inside, the difference was down to 40-47. Soon, however, Ginobili took his turn from the arc and nailed 3 triples in 79 seconds to break the game open at 46-59. Both teams kept scoring more or less easily, but Argentina retained control at 57-72 after three quarters. After Ginobili went to the bench with a 57-75 score early in the final quarter, Iran reeled off a 10-3 run, punctuated by a triple from Hamed Sohrabnejad, to make it 67-78. Argentina quickly regained control, however, with a triple by Carlos Delfino of Khimki Moscow and a fastbreak layup by Scola at 69-86. Despite their best try, the Iranians would not pull of the upset now, while Argentina could look ahead to a game without consequences in the run-up to the quarterfinals.
 China made its untold millions of fans jump for joy on Saturday by advancing to the quarterfinals at the Olympic men's basketball tournament with a do-or-die 59-55 victory over Germany in Beijing. China made another country's fans happy, too, as the victory meant qualification for Greece, also. Those two teams will play each other on Monday to decide third and fourth place in Group B. Germany was eliminated with Saturday's loss. Great defense in long stretches fueled victory for China, which lost all of an early double-digit lead but reasserted itself after halftime. Yao Ming led the victors with 25 points and 11 rebounds as the only double-digit scorer for China. Yi Jianlin added 9 points and 11 rebounds. Germany got double-doubles from Dirk Nowitzki, who had 24 points and 17 rebounds, and from Chris Kaman, with 10 and 12, respectively. Pascal Roller added 13 points but the rest of the team scored only 8 points. Both teams established their stars right away. China went up 11-7 as big men Yao and Yi split all of their team's points, while Nowitzki had all of Germany's so far. Wang Zhizhi helped China keep rolling to a double-digit lead when his triple ended the first quarter 19-9. Germany stormed back as Roller nailed back-to-back three-pointers and Kaman 4 points in a 1-10 start to the second quarter. At 20-19, Sun Yue saved China's lead with a basket to which Yao added a three-pointer. Then, however, China's offense stalled completely under Germany's pressure. Meanwhile, Nowtizski and Alba Berlin teammates Patrick Femerling and Steffen Hamann shared 6 free throws in a 1-8 closing run put Germany ahead 27-31 at halftime. Right after the break, China went inside to Yao and outside to Sun to seize back the advantage at 32-31. Liu Wei added a triple to the margin before Nowitzki broke a four-minute German scoring drought. Kaman scored twice to get Germany within 39-37 but Yao's three-point basket-plus-free throw sparked another China run. This one lasted for 8 unanswered points and put China in charge, 47-39, after three quarters. Yao opened the fourth quarter with a basket as Germany again struggled to score through 3 minutes. Roller finally lowered the difference, but Wang Shipeng quickly boosted it to 54-41 for China. With it's first Olympics appearance in a generation now in jeopardy, Germany reacted by going to Nowitzki for 5 consecutive points. After Roller buried another triple and Nowitzki a three-point play inside, it was 54-52 with under 3 minutes left. Yao stopped the 0-11 run for Germany, but Nowitzki answered with a triple to make it 56-55. The score stuck there for almost a minute-and-a-half until Yi buried a two-pointer with 28 seconds remaining, forcing a German timeout at 58-55. The only shot that landed after that was a free throw by Yao, who left the floor with 7 seconds left to a great ovation as China accomplished its goal of reaching the quarterfinals.
 Team USA wrapped up first place in Group B and proved its status as gold-medal favorite by stomping Spain 82-119 in the Olympic men's basketball tournament on Saturday in Beijing. The U.S. lifted its record to 4-0 in the group while Spain fell to 3-1 but still clinched second place. Its trademark ball-hawking defense forced 28 turnovers from Spain while the U.S. shooters sank 12 of 25 three-pointers to preserve big leads throughout the game. Eight different USA players scored in double figures, led by LeBron James, who had 18 points to go with 8 assists. Dwayne Wade and Carmello Anthony added 16 each and Chris Paul 14 for the winners. Felipe Reyes of Real Madrid led Spain with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Pau Gasol added 13 points, but no other Spain player reached double digits. Both teams entered early into a full-court rhythm, with Spain going ahead 7-4 as Rudy Fernandez drilled a three-pointer and fed Reyes for a layup. Anthony quickly tied from downtown, and two more ties ensued before James detonated a triple among his 7 consecutive points, blasting the U.S. ahead by 11-16. Soon, another mighty run of 3-13 in which Paul, Wade and Anthony shared all the points put the U.S. in control at 22-31 after one quarter. Reyes scored in the paint to open the second quarter for Spain but a Tayshaun Prince three-pointer and James's next dunk took the USA lead into double digits again, 24-36. There it stayed until a three-point play by Gasol made it 31-39. James and Kobe Bryant answered with big shots from downtown, sparking a 5-17 blast to a 20-point U.S. lead that Spain was able to trim only to 45-61 at halftime. The U.S. picked up in the second half at the same pace, with Anthony burying a triple for the biggest lead yet, 45-66. When he loaded up and landed another from long-range, it was 48-70, to which Jason Kidd added a fastbreak layup that forced a Spanish timeout. Juan Carlos Navarro and the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc, responded with 6 quick points to which Reyes added a three-point play and a jumper at 60-78. Nonetheless, the U.S. remained in charge thanks to Wade and James to lead 63-86 after three quarters. With the outcome no longer in doubt, the fourth quarter turned into a bit showtime. A Pau Gasol dunk and Fernandez triple lowerd the difference slightly, but a Bryant triple and Dwight Howard three-point play made it 71-98 with under 6 minutes left, meaning that no comeback was imminent. The difference at the buzzer, 82-119, was the biggest of a game that belonged completely to the Americans.
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