The Olympic men’s basketball tournament is about to get wild

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Australia vs. Lithuania, 10 a.m.
Spain vs. France, 1:30 p.m.
United States vs. Argentina, 5:45 p.m.
Croatia vs. Serbia, 9:15 p.m.

All games are streaming live on NBCOlympics.com. The Team USA game will also be on NBCSN. Marc Stein is RELISHING the opportunity for a competitive, compelling knockout round. Let’s go!

SPEAKING OF KNOCKOUTS ... The Team USA women won their quarterfinal by 46 over Japan.

RANK ‘EM: Stein ranks the eight teams left on the men’s side. Australia at No. 2, Croatia at No. 6 -- that’ll turn some heads.

HERKY JERKY: I wrote about how Jerry Colangelo’s blueprint to build Team USA continuity has failed and will likely never work due to the very nature of NBA participation in international competition. (Here are some excellent charts detailed the lack of continuity via eldo.co.)

AND 1: Michael Lee on the perfection required of Team USA.

WELL THAT’S A RELIEF: Playing for Team USA does not hurt players’ performance in the ensuing season.

MELO IN THE FAVELA: Carmelo Anthony spent Monday visiting a Rio favela (with a camera crew). He talks about the experience to Sam Amick.

HOW WE TALK ABOUT SPORTS: This is a really good essay by Jay Caspian Kang on narrative vs. rationality in sportswriting. I need to marinate with it before really sharing thoughts, though.

YI SEASON APPROACHING: There are reports that the Lakers are bringing Yi Jianlian back to the NBA.

DIGGING FOR GOLD: The Limited Upside podcast world tour lands in Denver.

THE TRICKSTER: Nice piece on Alex Scales, who had a cup of coffee with the Spurs before becoming a trick shot maven.

TOOLS ON TOOLS ON TOOLS: Ricky O’Donnell has a profile of Michael Porter, Jr., the most versatile top prospect of 2017.

FLAG UP: Shea Serrano ranks the flags of the Olympics. BHUTAN WAS ROBBED.

BLESSED: James Harden is just having goofy basketball fun this summer.

Happy Wednesday. Enjoy the basketball. See you next time.