Quarter-final: Argentina-Lithuania

[Miggity23]

In the states we don't really get to see too much international basketball unless our National team is involved. So untill 2006 I only saw other NTs when they were playing against us. Obviously I am biased and I use the US NT as the barometer to judge other teams, because of this I've always had more respect for these two national teams than anyone else. 4 out of the 5 starters for the Soviet Union's 1988 gold medal team were Lithuanian and since then they've always seemed to give my boys fits. Including the Sydney Olympics where they nearly shocked the world by coming within a missed three at the buzzer of beating the US. Something they were actually able to do in the Athens game.

Obviously, if playing the Americans is my yardstick, well then I have no choice but to give props to Argentina. Clearly they were the first country to beat a US squad with NBA players and they're the only country to beat the US with NBA players twice. Now, Argentina basketball has more exposure in America because they have high profile NBA players and they compete against us in the FIBA Americas. In the modern age of international basketball(1992-present), these two countries have been the biggest rivals to the US and I know the US players feel the same.

As for the actual game, like stated before on this thread, Lithuania doesn't have the guard play to beat Argentina. I think Lithuania will do a good job against All-World Scola, but Delfino and company will prove too much for Lithuania to overcome.