Team USA and Spain will square off in the knockout stage of the men's basketball competition for the fourth Olympics running. This time around, however, one of them will end up without a medal as the two basketball powerhouses were drawn to face each other in the quarterfinals here at the Tokyo Olympics.
Such a scenario transpired after Spain lost to Slovenia in their group finale. That result gave Slovenia the top seed in Group C, thus sending Spain outside the seeded pool. The nightmare pairing for both Team USA and Spain materialized an hour later when the draw was made, with the marquee matchup set for Tuesday between the three-time defending Olympic champions and the reigning World Cup champions.
Team USA holds an edge over Spain in recent matchups
They have faced each other in all of the previous three Summer Games, with Team USA emerging victorious in every one of those meetings. Team USA defeated Spain in the gold medal match back in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with the Redeem Team, led by the late great Kobe Bryant, pulling off the 118-107 win.
The Americans continued their mastery of the Spaniards in the 2012 London Olympics, beating them again in the gold medal match by a score of 107-100. Their meeting in the 2016 Rio Olympics came a round earlier, with Team USA beating Spain in the semifinals, 82-76. The Americans have dominated their head-to-head matchup, winning 16 of their previous 18 meetings against Spain.
However, the Spaniards will fancy their chances against Team USA this time around with the Americans not firing on all cylinders at the moment. Team USA finished Group A in second place after losing to France in their opening match. The Americans also lost two exhibition matches before flying to Tokyo for the Olympics, making the basketball competition a wide-open race.
Spain will need to play a whole lot better, though, compared to its showing in the 95-87 loss to Slovenia on Sunday. They were outscored 19-5 by Slovenia in the closing stages that cost them the top seed in Group C.
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Other quarterfinal matches are also mouth-watering
The Team USA vs Spain matchup will take place on Tuesday at 12:40 a.m. E.T. Preceding that mouth-watering clash is the quarterfinal showdown between Slovenia and Germany. Slovenia has been in fine form of late, thanks largely to Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic who has yet to lose on the international stage. Slovenia is 16-0 when Doncic is in the lineup. The game between Slovenia and Germany will start at 9 p.m. E.T.
France and Italy will contest the third quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday in another all-European affair. France stormed to the top of Group A with three victories, including the 83-76 win over Team USA. The Frenchmen and the Italians have gone 14-14 against one another in FIBA and Olympic play. That game begins at 4:20 a.m. E.T.
The last quarterfinal pairing will see Australia take on 2004 gold medalists Argentina. The Boomers are looking to win their first medal in men's basketball and will be led by NBA stars Patty Mills and Joe Ingles. Their matchup against Argentina will begin at 8 a.m. E.T.
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