Taking a look at the 2016 Rio Olympics men’s basketball quarterfinals results from Wednesday, August 17 to see which four teams advanced
If you haven’t been enjoying the Olympics men’s basketball competition throughout the preliminary rounds, you might want to check your pulse. There have been numerous instant classics throughout the group stages, but that was merely the prelude. On Wednesday at Day 12 of Rio 2016, the Olympics men’s basketball quarterfinals began. What you’d have to say were the eight best teams playing coming into the Games were still around and duking it out for the right to play for a medal.
Australia and Lithuania squared off to start the day in what should have been a great matchup between two teams ripe with NBA talent. However, the Aussies absolutely took it to the Lithuanians right from the opening tip. Patty Mills continued to lead the way offensively with his outside shooting while Aron Baynes came up big with 16 points of his own. Australia ran away with this one, securing the 90-64 victory and a spot in the semifinals.
There was also plenty of pre-game hype regarding the Spain vs France matchup considering the pedigree of these two teams. However, Spain was in a class of their own when they took the floor against one another. Nikola Mirotic lit up the French, as did Willy Hernangomez. When the final buzzer rang, it was Spain with the emphatic 92-67 win.
Team USA then looked to get back on track after three tough matchups to end the group stage. Early on, it looked like they may be in for another fight as they fell behind Argentina. However, Kevin Durant and Paul George flipped the script in a big way with a supreme effort on both ends of the floor. The Americans then pulled away and never looked back on their way to a 105-78 win that punched their ticket to the semifinals.
Perhaps the craziest game of the day ended the quarterfinals slate with Croatia vs Serbia. The young Croatia team jumped out to a big lead going into halftime and seemed in a position to coast to victory. However, they let off the throttle far too much and Serbia went on a 34-14 run to capture the lead. Croatia fought back and tried to fight to pull back ahead in the final moments, but Nikola Jokic and company held on for the 86-83 victory.
Now it’s onto the semifinals, which will be played on Friday, August 19. It’ll be Australia vs Serbia and then a huge matchup with Team USA vs Spain. The winners will move on to play for the gold medal on Sunday.