By Greg Heakes
Agence France-Presse
LAS VEGAS, Nevada–Luis Scola scored 27 points and collected nine rebounds as Argentina beat Brazil 91-80 to became the first team from the FIBA Americas Championship to punch their ticket to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Carlos Delfino also had 13 points, three steals and four assists for Argentina in the semi-final matchup in front of a crowd of about 2,000 at the Thomas and Mack Center arena.
“It has been a long week,” said Argentina head coach Sergio Hernandez. “I am very excited. Our third quarter today was our best.”
The Brazil/Argentina game was the first of two semifinal games Saturday at the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament. Taking the court later in the day is the United States and Puerto Rico.
Saturday’s first semifinal was a rematch of Wednesday’s second-round thriller won 86-79 in overtime by Argentina, who are missing most of their best players in Las Vegas.
But the depleted Argentina squad benefited from a rest day on Friday after playing eight consecutive games through the first two rounds of the 10-team tournament.
“We need that day of rest because our only other day off was the first day of the tournament,” Hernandez said.
Argentina, the defending Olympic champions, reached the Sunday’s gold-medal game despite missing four of its NBA stars, guard Manu Ginobili (San Antonio Spurs), forward Andres Nocioni (Chicago Bulls), centre Fabrico Oberto (San Antonio) and forward Walter Hermann (Charlotte Bobcats).
Hernandez said even Argentina basketball fans didn’t believe they could pull this one off.
“Six months ago when players started saying they were not going to play many people in Argentina were upset,” Hernandez said. “They didn’t believe this team could qualify for the Olympics. But we believed we could do it.”
Delfino, who plays for the Toronto Raptors of the NBA, came into the tournament with a sore knee after injuring it during a recent tournament in Puerto Rico.
“This group of players did a great job of coming together as a team,” Delfino said. “We had good chemistry both on and off the court.”
Argentina shot 30-of-56 from the field (54 percent), including eight-of-16 from three-point range.
Argentina took the lead for good late in the third quarter after trailing by eight points at halftime. They rallied behind Scola to grab a 65-56 lead at the end of the third.
Tiago Splitter, who plays for Tao Ceramica in Spain, collected 15 points and nine rebounds for the Brazil while Leandro Barbosa added 16 points in the loss.
Brazil jumped out to an early 14-8 lead in the opening five minutes but their offence took a hit when Nene Hilario, a member of the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, went out four minutes into the game with a leg injury.
Leandro Barbosa, who had a career year for the Phoenix Suns this past season, led the way with seven points in the first quarter and finished with 16 points on six-of-12 shooting from the field.
Although Argentina won the Olympic crown in Athens in 2004, they were prevented from medaling in the Japan World Championships thanks to a 96-81 US win in the bronze medal game.
