THE Americans finally found their rhythm Wednesday in a 105-78 win over Argentina in Olympic men’s basketball quarterfinal play, recovering from an early 10-point deficit to earn a semifinal game against the Spanish team that so many expected them to face in a FIBA World Cup gold medal matchup in Madrid in 2014.

    When Spain was knocked out of FIBA play in a quarterfinals loss to France, it robbed the basketball world of the matchup so many wanted to see. The Americans, with four players from that team, who are now in Rio, went on to win the gold against Serbia in the final. It was fitting, then, that Spain dominated France Wednesday afternoon to ensure its part in this hoops play. And now, they’ll attempt to fill one of the few voids in their storied program’s history when they face off Friday.

    Spain, which won the 2006 FIBA World Cup and the European championship in 2009, 2011 and 2015, has never won gold at the Olympics. They fell to the U.S. in the final game at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics.

    Both teams are coming in with all kinds of momentum. The Americans, who extended their winning streak in international play to 51 games (23 in Olympic play) against Argentina, looked more formidable than they have since coming together for training camp in Las Vegas two months ago.

    Kevin Durant led the way with 27 points (seven of nine from three-point range), while small forward Paul George was a two-way terror (17 points, great defense) and big man DeMarcus Cousins had his best game yet (15 points). They made it look easy by the end, when DeMar DeRozan gave the fans some added entertainment with a 360-degree dunk in the final minutes.

    After all the talk about how Australia, Serbia and France had pushed the Americans all the way until the end of their last three wins, this was different. This, as Argentina rushed out to a 19-9 lead just six minutes in, was early mayhem the likes of which the Americans hadn’t faced.

    (SD-Agencies)