Olympic Basketball 2016: TV Schedule, Live Stream and Odds for Day 10
The knockout phase of the basketball tournament at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is in sight.
On the final day of group play, all six teams in Group B will be fighting for a spot among the top four and a berth to the next round.
Argentina and Lithuania, both 3-1, have already clinched their spots. Spain (2-2) and Brazil (1-3), meanwhile, will have eyes on each other. Because it owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, Brazil will advance with a win and a Spain loss.
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It will certainly give the home crowd something to root for, even if Brazil may be a long shot to advance in the bracket.
Spain lost to Croatia (2-2), so it needs a win over Argentina to advance.
Here's a complete schedule of Monday's action, as well as title odds:
| B | 1:15 p.m. ET | Nigeria | Brazil | MSNBC |
| B | 6 p.m. ET | Spain | Argentina | NBCSN |
| B | 9:30 p.m. ET | Lithuania | Croatia |
| USA | 1-12 |
| Spain | 17-1 |
| Serbia | 17-1 |
| Australia | 20-1 |
| France | 25-1 |
| Lithuania | 30-1 |
| Argentina | 40-1 |
| Croatia | 100-1 |
| Brazil | 100-1 |
| Nigeria | 500-1 |
| Venezuela | 1,000-1 |
| China | 5,000-1 |
Hanging by a Thread
After a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Argentina, Brazil finds itself just outside the top four.
"It's really hard to understand why we lost that game," Leandro Barbosa said, per USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. "We had the game in our hands."
Using that disappointment as fuel could keep Brazil alive, and drawing Nigeria for its final game helps.
Nigeria made both Spain and Lithuania work harder than expected and managed to upset Croatia, but it was still the lowest-ranked country coming into the tournament and doesn't have a single current NBA player.
Having league rotation players Nene, Barbosa, Raul Neto, Marcelo Huertas and Cristiano Felicio while playing in front of a home crowd should be enough to put Brazil over the top.
No Rest for the Argentines
Argentina pulled out the victory in the game of the tournament when it beat Brazil on Saturday. Andres Nocioni had 37 points and 11 rebounds, while Facundo Campazzo had 33 points and 11 assists in the double-overtime thriller.
"This is great. This is an eternal rivalry for us,” Nocioni said, per Zillgitt. “What we did today was big."
Important as that win was, Argentina doesn't have time to rest on those laurels. It now has a chance to win Group B outright and eliminate world No. 2 Spain.
It will likely take more incredible play from Nocioni and Campazzo, plus improvement from Manu Ginobili, to knock off a Spanish squad that appears to have finally found its footing in Rio.
After losing its first two games, Spain struggled to beat Nigeria for its first win of the tournament. Fans and media were understandably beginning to doubt Spain, but it put some of that to rest by pounding then-undefeated Lithuania by 50 points.
Pau Gasol hit all five of his three-pointers as part of a Spanish attack that went 16-of-32 from deep. NBA.com tweeted the big man's impressive line:
If that trend keeps up and Gasol can pull Luis Scola and Argentina's other bigs away from the rim, things will open up for slashers such as Rudy Fernandez.
And even without shooting that hot, it's hard to imagine the Spanish being done after this one. There's so much on the line for Spain and little on the line for Argentina. Expect it to come out with plenty of intensity.
The Final Game of Group Play
Croatia suffered a disappointing loss to Nigeria on Saturday, but it is still on its way to the knockout round thanks to wins over Brazil and Spain. Despite its 50-point loss to Spain, Lithuania is still tied with Argentina atop the standings for Group B.
All that's at stake in this one is seeding. Both sides might actually pull starters in the name of rest pretty early.
Full group listings and standings, as well as live streams of all the games, can be found at NBCOlympics.com.
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