LONDON – Holder United States and Spain are one step away from a rematch of the 2008 gold-medal game after recording quarterfinal victories in the Olympic men's basketball Wednesday. The US, getting a lift from Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, eliminated a game and gritty Australia team 119-86 while Spain prevailed 66-59 in a tough and testy encounter with France. The Americans now meet Argentina in Friday's semifinals while Spain takes on Russia. Argentina ousted arch-rival Brazil 82-77 and Russia eased past Lithuania 83-74. The high-powered US team spluttered against the fearless Australians before Bryant, who had been relatively quiet during these Games, came to life by putting on a fourth-quarter show. He drilled four three-pointers in succession to chants of ‘Kobe, Kobe' from the North Greenwich Arena crowd as the Americans raced away from their tiring opponents. “Kobe's usually been the best player every night we play (in the NBA) so it's great to see him go off like that,” point guard Chris Paul told reporters after Los Angeles Lakers leader Bryant collected 20 points. Spain broke open a fierce defensive battle in the final minute to win a bad-tempered contest that threatened to turn into a brawl. Back-to-back fouls for unsportsmanlike behaviour were handed out to France's Ronny Turiaf and Nicolas Batum for hard hits while players from both teams had to be restrained by officials. “Nobody likes to lose in the quarterfinal of the Olympics,” said Spain's Marc Gasol who led the winners with 14 points. “Everybody wants to fight for those medals. Sometimes it gets a little out of hand because emotions get involved. Nobody got hurt, that's the most important thing.” Argentina overcame a sluggish start and a late Brazilian rally to return to the semifinals. It is the third successive appearance in the last four for the South Americans who won gold in 2004 and bronze in 2008. The Argentines jumped up and down with joy before singing along with their fans in celebration. “We hung in there in the end and got an awesome win,” said the experienced Manu Ginobili. “It's very, very hard to make an Olympics semi-final and against Brazil for us it's maybe even more special.” Russia made the most of its strength under the basket to beat Lithuania as it kept up its challenge for a first basketball medal in 12 years. Andrei Kirilenko played his usual brilliant all-round game for Russia while burly center Timofey Mozgov operated with great effect. Kirilenko led Russia with 19 points and had a game-high 13 rebounds. Mozgov added 17 points. “It was a physical game, Lithuania are a physical team. They were strong. The whole game was tough,” said the 7-foot-1 Mozgov before adding that Kirilenko's points haul was routine. “He played very well,” said Mozgov. “I can't remember a game when he played badly.” — Reuters
