Rio 2016 Olympics: Team USA back on showing dominance, advances to the semi-finals

After a series of tough wins, Team USA finally found their rhythm with a commanding 105-78 win against Argentina in their quarter-final duel on Wednesday and secured a semifinal spot the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Kevin Durant led the Americans with 27 points on 13 shots (7-of-9 from three-point range). Small forward Paul George added 17 and Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins had his best game so far with 15 points.

With a line-up composed of NBA all-stars, the Americans are always the favourite to win the gold in Basketball events with a winning average lead of 30 points. This time they have been tested to their limits with games with Australia, Serbia and France, all of which gave team USA hard-fought games that resulted to wins that came down through the wire.

The Argentinians started the game with a 19-9 lead in the first six minutes. Luis Scola, Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni all led the offensive end and hit nine of its first 12 shots. These caused Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski to call a time-out to stop the bleeding, a situation that one won't normally see knowing that the Americans are always expected to dominate the game.

After the time-out, Team USA finally found a smooth flow to their offence and went on to hit 11 of its next 13 shots that resulted to a 27-2 run. They continued the game showing the good defence that they were missing during the early games, forcing Argentina to commit turnovers and end the first half leading to a score of 56-40.

New Jersey Nets forward Luis Scola had 15 for Argentina. Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs, who is playing on his last international game, scored 14 points, to the delight of a large Argentine fans who continued to cheer their team despite the blowout.

The game finished with the Toronto Raptors’ high-flying guard DeMar Derozan giving the fans a treat with a 360-degrees dunk.

The United States will face Spain, which beat France in their quarterfinal battle, 92-67 for their semi-finals, match on Friday.