Olympic Basketball Schedule 2012: Previewing, Predicting Thursday's Matchups

A quick look at the first two days of the men's Olympic basketball competition shows Team USA leading the way, but several other teams are stepping up as well.

France picked up a crucial win over Argentina to avenge their opening loss to the Americans on Tuesday afternoon. 

Russia, Spain and Brazil have all won their first two games of the Olympics and look to be in great shape in Group B. 

On Thursday, all 12 men's teams will play as we pass the halfway point in the group stage. 

We will see some great action as medal contenders and desperate teams will be in action.

Here is a look at Thursday's games and which team will come out on top in each. 

France vs. Lithuania: 4 a.m. ET

If you want to get up early (or stay up real late), you'll be able to catch an interesting matchup between a pair of 1-1 teams in Group A, France and Lithuania. 

France rebounded extremely well after getting blown out by Team USA, picking up a hard-fought 71-64 victory over Argentina on Tuesday. 

Lithuania was blown out by Argentina in the opening game of the tournament for them, but answered nicely with a 19-point thrashing of a weaker Nigeria squad.

The good news for Lithuania is they can likely reach the quarters by beating Tunisia and won't have to do any damage against the top teams in Group A. 

However, if they want to avoid Spain, the Lithuanians will need to beat either France or the U.S. in group play.

Beating Team USA, even if it's only their backups, seems very unlikely, so Lithuania will need to pull out all the stops against France if they want to prove they are medal contenders. 

To beat Tony Parker and a well-balanced French team that also features Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw, Lithuania will need big games from their own NBA stars, Darius Songalia and Linas Kleiza. 

France, however, will be too much. The momentum they will have from beating Argentina will carry over, putting them in great shape to finish in second place in Group A.

Prediction: France 84, Lithuania 68 

Australia vs. China: 6:15 a.m. ET

For a team with medal aspirations, it has been a disappointing start for Australia in this year's Olympic Games. 

Although they were competitive in both matchups, Australia lost to Brazil and Spain.

Fortunately for them, Great Britain and China are also winless in Group B, so they still have a good chance of sneaking into the quarterfinals.

China put up a good offensive performance to open up against Spain—behind 30 points from Yi Jianlian—but they followed that up with a 54-point stinker against Russia on Tuesday. 

This game will go a long way in determining who picks up the fourth spot in Group B and potentially faces Team USA in the quarterfinals.

Australia have some talent, so Team USA may want to avoid them if possible in the knockout rounds. However, expect the Australians to bounce back against a weaker Chinese team and get their first win of the tournament.

Prediction: Australia 75, China 63 

Argentina vs. Tunisia: 9:15 a.m. ET

Argentina is becoming one of the hardest teams to figure out in these Games. They took care of Lithuania easily, scoring 102 points in their opener, but they managed to score only 64 against France.

The key for Argentina is Luis Scola, who dominated the Lithuanians with 32 in their opener, but managed only half that total against France.

He will have to step up and be the top option on offense if Argentina wants a medal.

Tunisia can hang their hat on the first half they played against Team USA, staying close in the first quarter only to lose by nearly 50.

If they want any chance at the quarters, Tunisia needs to steal one, if not two, of their final three games, but they don't have the talent to keep up with Argentina in this one.

Prediction: Argentina 96, Tunisia 64

Brazil vs. Russia: 11:45 a.m. ET

This will certainly be the top game to look out for tomorrow as it features two undefeated teams out of Group B, Russia and Brazil.

The Russians have been the surprise of the tournament so far, besting Great Britain and China by a combined 39 points.

Andrei Kirilenko, who will make his return to the NBA next season, is carrying this Russian team, dropping 51 in the team's first two games.

If Russia wants to prove themselves to be serious medal contenders, they must beat a sound Brazilian team that also goes into this game unbeaten.

For Brazil, it has not been easy thus far.

After they held on to best Australia by just four in their opener, Great Britain surprisingly led Brazil late and almost pulled off a massive upset before falling 67-62. 

Nevertheless, two wins are two wins any way you get them, and Brazil will look to wear down the paint with Nene and Tiago Splitter.

If Brazil can't step it up offensively, they won't be able to match Russia's dynamic offense. Despite the difference in size, Russia is playing with so much confidence right now that they may just have what it takes to pull off the upset.

Prediction: Russia 75, Brazil 72

Spain vs. Great Britain: 3 p.m. ET

Most experts agree that Spain are the top challenger to Team USA for the gold medal in this tournament, and the Spaniards have given little room to challenge that claim thus far. 

Behind back-to-back 20-point performances by Pau Gasol, Spain dispatched of China and Australia in their opening games. They now will face a winless GB team with the ability to clinch a quarterfinal birth.

Great Britain almost pulled off a massive upset over Brazil in their last game, and they will be going into this game with more confidence than ever before.

Luol Deng is lighting it up, and with the home crowd behind them, the Brits should be energized and ready to pull off a stunning upset.

However, Spain have too many weapons from top to bottom with the Gasols, Juan Carlos Navarro and Jose Calderon, just to name a few, and they will wear down a less-experienced Britain team as the game goes on.

Prediction: Spain 85, Great Britain 71

Nigeria vs. USA: 5:15 p.m. ET

For the second straight time, Team USA will close out the evening facing off with a team from Africa.

After blowing out France and Tunisia, the American team will now face Nigeria, who is not expected to be much of a threat to the top-ranked team in the world.

Nigeria did pick up a win over Tunisia in their opener, and they have Al-Faroq Aminu and Ike Diogu on their roster, but after they got blown out by Lithuania, Nigeria stands little chance going against a team as talented as Team USA.

With the result not in question for America, it will be about working out the kinks going forward in the tournament.

Specifically, it is about getting the team's starting unit back to where they need to be. Only Kevin Durant scored in double figures for the starters against Tunisia despite the fact that the team scored 110.

With the starting unit in, Tunisia actually stuck with the Americans in the first half. It wasn't until Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook took over did the Americans put the game out of reach.

Team USA may cruise in this one, but coach Mike Krzyzewski won't be happy unless they work out their chemistry issues, tighten up defensively and be more consistent from beyond the arc.

Prediction: USA 106, Nigeria 67