Olympic Basketball 2016: TV Schedule, Live Stream and Odds for Day 12
The weaknesses Team USA showed during group play could become real pitfalls as the tournament enters the knockout round on Wednesday.
There's no more time to sort out the selfishness on offense or the lack of focus on defense. If those things persist in the quarterfinals and beyond, the Americans could fall short of the gold. They'll start the medal round against the country that knocked them out last time they failed to win this tournament: Argentina played spoiler in 2004.
Twelve years later, can the same core pull off another historic upset?
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That question and many more will be answered as the basketball tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro gears toward medals.
Here's a complete schedule of Wednesday's action, as well as title odds:
| 10 a.m. ET | Australia | Lithuania | USA |
| 1:30 p.m. ET | Spain | France | USA |
| 5:45 p.m. ET | USA | Argentina | NBCSN |
| 9:15 p.m. ET | Croatia | Serbia |
| USA | 1-20 |
| Spain | 20-1 |
| Australia | 25-1 |
| Serbia | 28-1 |
| Lithuania | 28-1 |
| France | 33-1 |
| Croatia | 66-1 |
| Argentina | 80-1 |
Australia vs. Lithuania
Australia established itself as the surprise of group play, moving from middle of the pack to serious medal contender after crushing France and making USA work until the last couple minutes of the fourth quarter.
Its combination of toughness and selflessness is what makes Australia such a difficult out. Matthew Dellavedova, Joe Ingles and Andrew Bogut are all physical defenders who move the ball on the other end, while Patty Mills is the perfect gunner to complement them. At 20.5 points per game, he enters the quarterfinals as the tournament's second-leading scorer.
The cohesiveness of the Aussies shows, as they finished group play with an average of 26 assists, second only to Team USA.
Its opponent, Lithuania, had a strong showing in group play as well. It went 3-2, opening with wins over Brazil, Nigeria and Argentina.
Australia losing its last two games against Spain and Croatia is a concern, though. Especially since the loss to Spain was by a whopping 50 points.
Spain vs. France
Spain and France came to Rio as the likeliest challengers to America's basketball dominance. After struggling out of the gate, both finished 3-2.
"It's a difficult match-up that we know well," Pau Gasol said, per Yahoo Sports' Dan Martin. "They beat us two years ago, we beat them last year, and now we face them again in a critical game."
Gasol's steady hand is what carried Spain through a tough opening stretch that saw it drop its first two games in Rio. Now, everyone else is starting to hum, which, as Bleacher Report's Dan Favale wrote, makes this team scary:
"...Spain's shooters are clicking, and the defense is locked into place. It's finally resembling the medal contender it was assumed to be before the tournament began, and it'll have a chance to cement that status when it takes the court against France.
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France will require a Herculean defensive effort from Rudy Gobert if it's going to slow down Gasol. Nando de Colo and Nicolas Batum will need to be hitting from the perimeter as well. Otherwise, we should be looking at another Spain/USA showdown in the next round.
Team USA vs. Argentina
The Americans have gotten away with a multitude of basketball sins in Rio: The offense generally breaks down into isolations. Opponents' back cuts have the same effect on USA's defense as Ambien. The general lack of intensity led to a surprising point differential of just 16 over its last three games.
During the knockout phase, those vulnerabilities could turn into the explanations for USA not winning the gold everyone rightfully expected.
Argentina's roster may be getting long in the tooth, but its experience, especially as the only team with players who know what it's like to beat USA, could make it a prime candidate to expose the aforementioned weaknesses. If one or two of Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni or Facundo Campazzo can catch fire, Argentina has the firepower to put a scare into a complacent American squad.
If it isn't complacent, though, Team USA should cruise. Argentina's best player would be USA's 11th or 12th best. It's as simple as playing hard and avoiding the pitfalls for the most talented team in Rio.
Croatia vs. Serbia
Closing out the quarterfinals will be Croatia and Serbia, teams that feature some of the most exciting players in this tournament.
Croatia's Dario Saric, who will be a rookie for the Philadelphia 76ers this coming season, is averaging 12.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists. The 6'10", 22-year-old point forward provides a ton of versatility to an attack that's tough to game-plan for when he's on.
For Serbia, electrifying point guard Milos Teodosic has struggled to find a rhythm as a scorer during this tournament, but he's the kind of player who can break out at any moment.
At the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Teodosic captured fans' excitement when he shot 55.4 percent from the field and led Serbia to silver. If he gets hot, Croatia may not have anyone who can slow him down.
Full group listings and standings, as well as live streams of all the games, can be found at NBCOlympics.com.
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