A brief round-up of day four of the Olympic Basketball tournament.
Russia make it look easy against China
Russia improved to 2-0 in Group B following a comfortable 73-54 win over winless China.
Andrei Kirilenko led the Russians with 16 points, and he also pulled down nine rebounds. Kirilenko’s Minnesota team-mate Alexey Shved had 14 points and six assists.
Yi Jianlian was the only double-digit scorer for China with 16 points.
Spain use third quarter to pull away from Aussies
Spain defeated the Australian Boomers 82-70 in game’s second game.
The Australians pulled Spain close in the first half of play, only trailing the 2008 Olympic sdilver medallists 37-32 after the first half.
Spain then went on a game changing 14-4 run which spanned for the first five minutes of the third which put the game beyond any doubt.
Pau Gasol again led Spain with 20 points, with Real Madrid guard Rudy Fernandez adding 17, the latter grabbing six rebounds. The Aussies were led by Brad Newley and Joe Ingles, who each got 12.
Fernandez was involved in a collision with a cameraman in the second quarter that required three stitches on his forehead.
Lithuania get first Olympic win over Nigeria
Lithuania got their Olympic campaign back on track following a 72-53 over Nigeria.
Both teams now go to 1-1.
In a close first half, Lithuania asserted their dominance to lead by 16 after the third quarter to put the game beyond all doubt.
Linas Kleiza led Lithuania with 13 points with Al-Farooq Aminu and Ike Diogu leading the Nigerian charge with 12 points.
Brazil edge Great Britain
Brazil improve to 2-0 after they came from behind to beat Great Britain 67-62.
While Luol Deng had an off-day, shooting just 23 percent from the floor (3/13), the rest of the GB side showed that they can put solid numbers up with Sheffield Sharks guard Nate Reinking scoring 13, which incuded three triples from six attempted.
Pops Mensah-Bonsu also added 13 as they both led the hosts. Brazil were thankful to a game-high 21 points from Tiago Splitter. Marcelinho Huertas got 13 points and dished out eight assists.
France defeat Argentina
France put their defeat to Team USA behind them as they secured a 71-64 win over Argentina.
In what was a back-and-forth encounter between two evenly-matched teams, the French broke away in the fourth period to scrape by with the victory.
Both teams have now split their first two games.
Tony Parker led France with 17 points with Manu Ginobili leading all scorers with 26, in vain for Argentina.
USA in the end ease past plucky Tunisia
A 39-14 third quarter finally saw Team USA breeze past Tunisia 110-63 in the final game of day four.
Tunisia, who are expected to prop up Group A showed no fear against the selection of NBA superstars, trailing 46-33 at the half before the States showed their dominance and stepped up a gear to get the win.
Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love led the victors with 16 points.
