Men’s Olympic Basketball: Russia Downs Spain, Team USA Escapes Lithuania

The Argentina men’s basketball team won their third game of Olympic play Saturday and in doing so eliminated Nigeria from advancing to the semifinal round. Argentina won 93-79 to pull into a tie for second in Group A.

Argentina is now tied with France for second in Group A with seven points. Nigeria fell to 0-4 and even if they win their fifth and final game of group play, they will not have enough points to advance to the semifinal round.

A Lithuanian basketball fan was fined more than $3,000 for making racial taunts during Lithuania’s men’s basketball game against Nigeria.

The fan admitted to making Nazi gestures and monkey chants during the game. Lithuanian basketball officials were warned to control any racist behavior by their fans before their game against the United States on Saturday. Patrick Baumann, the secretary general for the International Basketball Federation, said racist behavior will not be allowed.

Team USA moves to 4-0 and regained control of Group A. Lithuania falls to 1-3, but they should still make the quarterfinals with a win over lowly Tunisia on Monday.

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Despite its terrible fourth quarter performance, France was able to narrowly hold on to the lead it had built up in the previous three quarters, defeating Tunisia 73-69. France led the game wire-to-wire and had a 17-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but did not play its best in the fourth and almost let its opponents back into the game.

France leads Group A with seven points after four matches, but it will fall to second place if the United States defeats Lithuania. Tunisia is tied for last in the group with four points.

Spain went long stretches of time without scoring a field goal, including a six-minute stretch between the end of the second quarter and the early part of the third quarter. Gasol led the team in scoring with 20 points, but contributed very little after his spectacular first quarter.

Russia used the second and third quarters, in which it outscored Spain, 45-25, to tally and take a three-point lead heading into the fourth. They nearly gave away the game late after getting off to an abysmal start in the fourth quarter, but manage to hold off Spain’s comeback. Down three with seconds remaining, Spain failed to even get off a final shot attempt.

Team U.S.A. is coming off the destruction of Nigeria in their last basketball game in the 2012 Summer Olympics. The United States scored the most points in an Olympic basketball game ever, but likely won’t repeat that blowout performance against Lithuania on Saturday morning.

The United States’ game against Lithuania begins at 9:30 a.m. ET and can be seen live on the NBC Sports Network.

Group play in the men’s Olympic basketball tournament continues Saturday and the scheduled games could go a long way in determining which teams will advance to the quarterfinal.

The United States, fresh off their 83-point win over Nigeria, will take on Lithuania Saturday. Team USA sits atop the Group A standings while Lithuania is currently tied for fourth. The top four teams from each group advance to the quarterfinal, making this an important game for Lithuania.

While the United States vs. Lithuania may be the most anticipated game of Saturday’s slate of Olympic basketball, the game between Russia and Spain is a close second.

Through three games of Olympic play, Spain and Russia are tied atop the Group B standings with six points each. Both teams have won their first three games. Although they are undefeated thus far, both Spain and Russia are coming off of narrow one-point wins in their last games. Russia knocked off Brazil 75-74 while Spain held on against Great Britain 79-78.