Olympic Basketball 2016: Friday Results, Scores, Highlights and Reaction
The men's basketball semifinals took center stage at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. The penultimate round featured a rematch of the last two gold-medal games, as the reigning champion United States took on rival Spain.
Meanwhile, the second semifinal included a pair of teams that gave the powerhouse Americans trouble during the group stage, Australia and Serbia. The Australians won a previous meeting during the early stages of pool play by 15 points.
Let's check out all of the details for the start of the medal rounds, which will get updated following the conclusion of the second semifinal. That's followed by a recap of the action.
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Friday's Schedule and Results
| Semifinals | Spain vs. United States | 82-76 USA |
| Semifinals | Australia vs. Serbia | 87-61 Serbia |
Spain vs. United States
Although the United States only beat Spain 82-76, it never felt like the two-time defending champions were in any serious danger during the semifinal triumph.
Klay Thompson led the charge for the Americans with 22 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving also reached double figures in scoring with 14 and 13 points, respectively. DeAndre Jordan added nine points, 16 boards and four blocks.
Pau Gasol, who was questionable ahead of the game with a calf injury, looked just fine, as he tallied a game-high 23 points to go along with eight rebounds. He didn't get much help on the offensive end, however, as Sergio Rodriguez was the only other Spain player to score more than 10 points (11).
The United States came out strong with a 26-point first quarter to grab an early nine-point edge. It's been a tale of two offenses for Team USA throughout the tournament, though. When the Americans move the ball and make aggressive cuts to the basket like they did early on in this game, they have been highly effective.
Alas, the downside of the offense comes when they start getting too comfortable playing one-on-one basketball. That happened in the second quarter, which allowed Spain to knock the lead down to six at halftime.
Thompson was one of the few bright spots for the United States in the second quarter, as he got hot from the field to finish the first half with 17 points.
NBA on ESPN noted Durant also reached a national team milestone before the break:
The sides continued to exchange buckets in the third quarter, as Spain struggled to make the surge it needed to get the game back level. As a whole, the contest lacked much flow due to the number of fouls and poor offensive possessions.
Spain's inability to make a serious charge while the United States offense was stuck in neutral for a while left the door open for Team USA to pull away. That's exactly what it did in the fourth quarter in order to secure a berth in the championship game.
ESPN Stats and Info noted the victory keeps the team's perfect record against Spain on the Olympic stage intact:
While the offense has sputtered at times, Bill Herenda of KFBK highlighted the defensive improvement so far in the knockout rounds:
Looking ahead, the Americans will face either Australia or Serbia as they look to capture their third consecutive gold medal in men's basketball. As mentioned, however, both of those other semifinalists put up terrific fights against Team USA in group play.
The biggest key for the U.S. will be ball movement. There are so many players on the squad capable of creating their own offense that they sometimes get caught watching one another work. If the Americans make extra passes to trade in a good look for a great one, they have too many weapons for anyone to slow them down.
Serbia 87, Australia 61
In a surprising result, Serbia smashed Australia, 87-61, in a game that was never truly close.
Australia's offense sputtered all night against a physical Serbian defense, and it simply couldn't muster any consistency in the first half.
The Australians, led by Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova, scored a grand total of five points in the first quarter and 14 in the first half while Serbia fired on all cylinders and mounted a 21-point lead at the break.
As always, Serbia was led by supremely gifted ball-handler Milos Teodosic. The diminutive scoring machine dropped 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting and doled out five assists to help pace the Serbians' attack.
Stefan Markovic added 14 points and five dimes of his own, while Miroslav Raduljica poured in 11 points off the bench.
As a team, Serbia shot 53 percent from the field and 31 percent from three. To put those numbers in perspective, Australia made just 33 percent of its total field goals and canned a meager 13 percent of its long-distance attempts.
Bogut and Dellavedova were silenced to the tune of four and three points, respectively, so San Antonio Spurs point guard Patty Mills was tasked with shouldering the load. In 29 minutes, Mills posted 12 points for an overmatched Australian side.
By virtue of the win, Serbia and the United States will now square off in a rematch of the 2014 FIBA World Cup Final.
And if group play was any indication, the U.S. can't take Serbia lightly.
Serbia came within a late three-pointer of tying the game and sending it to overtime, and the American defense simply looked like a mess all night long in the 94-91 thriller.
But if the Red, White and Blue can tighten things up and use superior athleticism and size to its advantage, a third straight gold should be in order.
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