Olympic Basketball 2012: After Aussie Blowout, Going Now Gets Rough for Team USA

After walloping the Australians by 33 in their quarterfinal matchup, Team USA should enter the Olympic semifinals in London with no shortage of confidence.

They've beaten their semifinal opponent, Argentina, twice in the past two weeks, including a near 30-point blowout this past Sunday.

Team USA will still be heavily favored to beat Argentina on Friday, and they'll be heavily favored to win the gold medal over either Russia or Spain on Sunday, too. There's no questioning that, barring serious simultaneous injuries to LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Aside from injuries, there's one other major thing Team USA can't afford, something they've been known to do in these Olympics.

The Americans can't get off to a slow start against Argentina or, knock on wood, in the gold medal game.

It's not to say that Team USA can't survive a close game. On the contrary, they've been battle-tested throughout exhibition and preliminary play, emerging with close victories over Argentina (by 6, in their first matchup) and Lithuania (by 5).

The Americans still have the three best closers in the world on their team in Durant, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, last I checked.

That James fellow isn't too shabby either, having put up only the second triple-double in Olympic history against the Australians.

The quarterfinal game against Australia wasn't all gravy, though.

Early in the third quarter, the Aussies had trimmed down Team USA's 14-point halftime lead to only a three-point deficit.

The Americans responded well, however, ballooning the lead back up to double digits by the end of the third quarter before cruising in the fourth.

Team USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game, "We got off to a horrible start in the second-half and I am proud of my guys because we were playing well in the first-half, got that bad start and then they played great."

No offense to Australia, who played a great game against the Americans, but Argentina's a much better, more dangerous team.

If the Americans come out asleep in the opening minutes of either half, Argentina's Manu Ginobili will pounce on the opportunity immediately.

"We've got to get out to a good start," said Team USA starting point guard Chris Paul in reference to Argentina. "They are going to have their crowd behind them and we’ve got to come out and impose our will."

The Americans, at this point, appear to be in the right mindset about their final date with Argentina.

After beating Australia, Coach K and a number of Team USA players described their upcoming matchup with Argentina as "tough," with Coach K saying they have the "heart of a champion." (Argentina won the 2004 gold medal in Athens.)

This year's semifinals will actually be a rematch from Athens eight years ago, where the Americans finished on the losing end of an 89-81 semifinal matchup against Argentina.

Both James and Anthony were on that roster, and undoubtedly remember the frustration of only battling for a bronze medal that year.

That experience should only help this year's iteration of Team USA, as James and Anthony will assuredly remind their teammates of that experience in the next 36 hours to help them stay hungry and not grow complacent.

The typically wily Manu Ginobili only becomes wilier in international play, as he's shown in these Olympics. Ginobili, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino won't go down without throwing every haymaker they can muster at the Americans.

Assuming Team USA can advance to the gold medal game, they'll either meet a heaping mountain of Spanish post players or a Russian squad led by a rejuvenated Andrei Kirilenko.

Don't go expecting another 83-point blowout anytime soon.

If Team USA plays in high-octane, all-out mode for 40 minutes against Argentina and their next  opponent, they've got the talent to repeat as the gold medalists. 

But they need to play that way, or else they could face a deficit against Argentina or their next opponent that could be too great to overcome, even for them.

They recognize the challenge that lies ahead in these next two games.

Do you?