2016 Olympic Games: Day 8

The men’s Basketball tournament is starting to take shape at the 2016 Olympic Games. Day 8 in Rio saw Group B wrap up its penultimate round of games before the knock-out stages. There were plenty of significant talking points on Saturday ahead of the final group games which run Sunday through Monday.

An all-South American clash saw hosts Brazil and Argentina resume their sporting rivalry. Despite the home floor in Rio, the Brazilians were taken down in a classic game, which was decided late into a second added overtime period.

Spain continued its resurgence in the 2016 Olympic Games. After a slow start to the tournament, the experienced Spanish turned it on and produced a crushing victory over Lithuania. In the other Group B contest, Nigeria finally lived up to its early threatening promise and defeated Croatia.

Brazil vs. Argentina, 111-107 OT2

Rivals in all aspects of life, South American neighbors Brazil and Argentina produced a classic contest on Day 8 of the Basketball tournament. This close game will go down into Olympic history, producing fond memories for the Argentine fans. The Brazilians not so much, the hosts lost in the most heartbreaking fashion, but can still qualify in Game 5.

Argentina run riot in the first quarter (19-28) before Brazil returned the favour in the second (33-16) to make it 52-46 through halftime. The scoring eased in the second half, which allowed the visitors to close the gap steadily and lock the game 87-87 through regulation time. The first overtime period was shared 10-10, before Argentina drained 16 points in the second added frame to secure the win.

Spain vs. Lithuania, 109-59

After losing its opening two games, Spain was under pressure on Saturday despite defeating Nigeria on Thursday. The Europeans needed to build on that win or risk slipping out of the 2016 Olympic Games. Standing in the way was Lithuania team that was so far undefeated with three consecutive victories. However, Spain turned it on in a big way and put together one of the most complete performances of the tournament so far.

In the first half the Spanish were solid at both ends of the hardwood and took a 48-29 lead into the long break. That near twenty point advantage allowed the Spaniards to let loose, pouring in 36 points in the third act and 25 in the fourth. Lithuania was utterly blown away as the Spanish offence peppered the bucket.

Croatia vs. Nigeria, 76-90

Nigeria had lost three games heading into this contest. However, in each game the Africans had shown late in contests that it could put together a string offensive show. Against Croatia Nigeria put that decent attack into practice and finally shored up in defence too. After clawing a 39-43 lead through halftime, Nigeria went bit with a 17-27 third act that put enough points between them and Croatia to make the fourth a formality.