US Men’s Basketball Team Tied with Spain at the Half originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The U.S. men’s basketball team (2-1) are locked in a tight battle with Spain (2-1) in the Tokyo Olympics men’s basketball quarterfinal. The game is tied 43-43 after two quarters.
Team USA had a tough time stopping Ricky Rubio in the first quarter. The Cleveland Cavaliers guard dropped 13 points in the quarter to help keep Spain in the game.
Kevin Durant took over in the second quarter, dropping five points to give him 12 by the half.
Durant leads the U.S. men in scoring while Zach LaVine was the second-leading scorer with seven points and Damian Lillard scored six points.
Spain, a longtime rival of the U.S., has a veteran-laden squad with experience dating back to the 2004 Olympics. Pau Gasol, 41, still plays a key role after leading the team to silver in 2008 and 2012. Ricky Rubio, Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez are among the other notable names still competing for Spain.
The winner of USA-Spain will face the winner of Australia-Argentina. Australia (3-0) defeated the U.S. in an exhibition game on July 12. Patty Mills leads the Aussies at 21.7 points per game, while 41-year-old Luis Scola is scoring 19.7 per game for Argentina (1-2).
On the other side of the bracket, France (3-0) will play Italy (2-1) and Slovenia (4-0) beat Germany (1-3), 94-70 to advance to the semifinals. This works out favorably for the Americans, as France just defeated them in group play and Slovenia is led by the red-hot Luka Doncic (28.3 PPG).
The U.S. suffered its first Olympics loss since 2004 when it fell to France in the opener. Led by Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum, Team USA has looked like its old self over the last two games.
You can watch U.S. vs. Spain live at 12:40 a.m. ET here:
Team USA’s game against Spain will tip at 12:40 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Aug. 3.