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Basketball, Men

Date29 July – 12 August 2012
StatusOlympic
LocationNorth Greenwich Arena, Greenwich, London / Basketball Arena, Olympic Park, Stratford, London
Participants144 from 12 countries
FormatRound-robin pools advance teams to classification matches.

The United States has historically dominated the sport of basketball, but after the USA team placed third at the 2004 Olympics, it was obvious that the rest of the world was catching up. Although NBA players had been used at the Olympics since 1992, even with them it had become apparent that the USA could no longer show up with a team of NBA All-Stars and expect to waltz through the Olympics to a gold medal. USA Basketball responded by hiring Jerry Colangelo, a former NBA coach, to lead Team USA and Colangelo hired Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who instituted a team program concept. This worked with a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics and in 2010 the USA won the World Championships for only the second time ever. Led by NBA stars Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul, the USA was favored in London, but they knew that they could be beaten if they did not play well, as Spain, Russia, and Argentina had several NBA players on their teams.

But that never happened, although they were challenged. In group play the United States punished Nigeria 156-73, setting all sorts of Olympic records, including most points in a game, and margin of victory. But their next game was against Lithuania and this was close until late in the fourth quarter, before the USA pulled ahead to win 99-94. In the knock-out round, the United States easily defeated Australia and Argentina to reach the final against Spain. Spain had beaten Lithuania in the quarters and Russia in the semis.

The final was close throughout, with the USA pulling out to an early lead, only to see Spain come back in the second period and cut the lead to only one at the half, 59-58. It stayed that way after three quarters, but the US was too strong in the final few minutes and won the gold medal, 107-100. The bronze medal went to Russia, who defeated Argentina 81-77. Despite the history of top Russian basketball players, mainly when playing for the Soviet Union, this was the first Olympic medal in men’s basketball for Russia.

PosNrTeamNOCWLPtsPoints
1United StatesUSA8016924–667Gold1
2SpainESP5313647–619Silver2
3Russian FederationRUS6214623–577Bronze3
4ArgentinaARG4412690–6914
5BrazilBRA4210479–4315
6FranceFRA4210435–4446
7AustraliaAUS339496–4927
8LithuaniaLTU248469–4828
9Great BritainGBR146380–4059
10NigeriaNGR146338–45610
11TunisiaTUN055320–41111
12People's Republic of ChinaCHN055313–43912

Preliminary Round (29 July – 6 August 2012)

Group A (29 July – 6 August 2012)

Round-robin pools.

PosNOCWLPtsPoints
1USA5010589–398Q
2FRA419376–378Q
3ARG328448–424Q
4LTU237395–399Q
5NGR146338–456
6TUN055320–411

Match #129 Jul 9:00NGR 1360 – 56TUN 14
Match #229 Jul 14:30USA 1598 – 71FRA 16
Match #329 Jul 22:15ARG 17102 – 79LTU 18
Match #431 Jul 14:30LTU 1972 – 53NGR 20
Match #531 Jul 20:00FRA 2171 – 64ARG 22
Match #631 Jul 22:15USA 23110 – 63TUN 24
Match #702 Aug 9:00FRA 2582 – 74LTU 26
Match #802 Aug 14:30ARG 2792 – 69TUN 28
Match #902 Aug 22:15USA 29156 – 73NGR 30
Match #1004 Aug 9:00FRA 3173 – 69TUN 32
Match #1104 Aug 14:30USA 3399 – 94LTU 34
Match #1204 Aug 22:15ARG 3593 – 79NGR 36
Match #1306 Aug 11:15LTU 3776 – 63TUN 38
Match #1406 Aug 14:30FRA 3979 – 73NGR 40
Match #1506 Aug 22:15USA 41126 – 97ARG 42

Group B (29 July – 6 August 2012)

Round-robin pools.

PosNOCWLPtsPoints
1RUS419400–359Q
2BRA419402–349Q
3ESP328414–394Q
4AUS328410–373Q
5GBR146380–405
6CHN055313–439

Match #129 Jul 11:15BRA 4375 – 71AUS 44
Match #229 Jul 16:45ESP 4597 – 81CHN 46
Match #329 Jul 20:00RUS 4795 – 75GBR 48
Match #431 Jul 9:00RUS 4973 – 54CHN 50
Match #531 Jul 11:15ESP 5182 – 70AUS 52
Match #631 Jul 16:45BRA 5367 – 62GBR 54
Match #702 Aug 11:15AUS 5581 – 61CHN 56
Match #802 Aug 16:45RUS 5775 – 74BRA 58
Match #902 Aug 20:00ESP 5979 – 78GBR 60
Match #1004 Aug 11:15RUS 6177 – 74ESP 62
Match #1104 Aug 16:45BRA 6398 – 59CHN 64
Match #1204 Aug 20:00AUS 65106 – 75GBR 66
Match #1306 Aug 9:00AUS 6782 – 80RUS 68
Match #1406 Aug 16:45GBR 6990 – 58CHN 70
Match #1506 Aug 20:00BRA 7188 – 82ESP 72

Quarter-Finals (8 August 2012)

Winner of each match advanced to the semi-finals.

Match #108 Aug 20:00ARG 7382 – 77BRA 74
Match #208 Aug 22:15USA 75119 – 86AUS 76
Match #308 Aug 16:15ESP 7766 – 59FRA 78
Match #408 Aug 14:00RUS 7983 – 74LTU 80

Semi-Finals (10 August 2012)

Winner of each match advanced to the final round.

Match #110 Aug 21:00USA 81109 – 83ARG 82
Match #210 Aug 17:00ESP 8367 – 59RUS 84

Final Round (12 August 2012)

Medal round.

Match 1/212 Aug 15:00USA 85107 – 100ESP 86
Match 3/412 Aug 11:00RUS 8781 – 77ARG 88

Rankings

Points
Scoring Average
2-point Field Goals Made
2-point Field Goals %
3-point Field Goals Made
3-point Field Goals %
Total Field Goals Attempted
Total Field Goals %
Free Throws Made
Free Throws %
Total Rebounds
Assists
Steals
Turnovers
Blocked Shots
Personal Fouls