Team USA will battle the best talent the world has to offer as it looks for its third consecutive gold.
The biggest international basketball competition has reached the knockout stages. Team USA will try to once again win the gold medal, like it has in the past two Olympics. There will be 11 other national teams hoping to pull off a historic upset, but even with Team USA's shaky defense in group play, it's hard to see that happening in this bracket. Scroll down for the latest scores and results.
The story leading up to the games was that some of the NBA's biggest American stars were opting to skip the competition. LeBron James, Stephen Curry, James Harden and Russell Westbrook, among others, all decided to take the summer off. Initially, there was some concern about the quality of the team that USA Basketball was going to assemble.
Fortunately, stars like Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Kyrie Irving and Draymond Green answered the call. This is arguably the worst American Olympic squad since the team that lost in Athens, but that's a testament to the juggernauts USA Basketball managed to assemble in the past, not a criticism of this iteration. Yet the Americans entered the medal round in a state of peril despite its 5-0 record, as their three games against legitimate competition (Australia, Serbia and France) all went down to the wire. The Americans are very much at risk in the knockout rounds.
There have been surprises in the past at the Olympic level, and each remaining team remaining can pull off the upset. Now that the U.S. got by Argentina, they must face Spain, the silver medal favorites entering the tournament. On the other side of the bracket, Australia defeated Lithuania and will face Serbia.
Host nation Brazil, on the other hand, was eliminated in the group stages. They can thank a double-overtime loss to regional rivals Argentina for that.
The format
There are two groups of six teams. Every team in each groups plays against one another and the top four from each group move on to the quarterfinals.
The top-seeded team from Group A faces the fourth-seeded team from Group B, and vice versa. Second-seeded squads face the third seed from the other group. The winners move on to the semifinals, which determine the finalists and the teams that battle for the bronze medal.
Bracket
You can click here to check the standings and see the bracket after the preliminary round.
Medal round schedule and results
Wednesday, August 17
Quarterfinals
Australia 90, Lithuania 64: This quarterfinal was never close. How's that for sending a message to the other medal contenders?
Spain 92, France 67: This is likely Tony Parker's final Olympics, and he'll close his international career failing to ever get a signature Olympic win while playing for France.
United States 105, Argentina 78: After falling behind early, the U.S. got its defense together and dominated their former rivals.
Serbia 86, Croatia 83: A wild game ended with Serbia edging out its rivals in the closing seconds.
Friday, August 19
Semifinals
USA vs. Spain
Serbia vs. Australia
Sunday August 21
Bronze medal game
USA-Spain loser vs. Australia-Serbia loser, 10:30 a.m.
Gold medal game
USA-Spain winner vs. Australia-Serbia winner, 2:45 p.m.
Final group standings
Group A
- USA: 5-0
- Australia: 4-1
- France: 3-2
- Serbia: 2-3
- Venezuela: 1-4
- China: 0-5
Group B
- Croatia: 3-2
- Spain: 3-2
- Lithuania: 3-2
- Argentina: 3-2
- Brazil: 2-3
- Nigeria: 1-4
Group play results
Saturday, August 6
Australia 87, France 66: The Olympics already have one surprise. Australia jumped all over silver medal favorite France early, then blew them out in the second half after a Tony Parker flurry got the score close at halftime.
United States 119, China 62: That was about as easy as everyone expected for Team USA.
Serbia 86, Venezuela 62: Serbia got its Olympics started well, turning a 14-14 tie into a 40-23 halftime lead before cruising to victory.
Sunday, August 7
Lithuania 82, Brazil 76: Lithuania raced out to a whopping 30-point lead by making almost every shot, but they almost blew it in the end.
Croatia 72, Spain 70: The young Croatians took the lead in the fourth quarter and pulled off the upset. How about that Dario Saric block!
Argentina 94, Nigeria 66: This game was basically over by halftime.
Monday, August 8
Australia 95, Serbia 80: The Boomers turned a tight game into a rout in the fourth quarter to earn their second signature victory.
United States 113, Venezuela 69: After a slow start, that was about as easy as everyone expected for Team USA.
France 88, China 60: France bounced back from its awful debut to cruise to an easy victory.
Tuesday, August 9
Brazil 66, Spain 65: Marquinhos tipped in a miss from Marcelo Huertas in the closing seconds to give Brazil the upset victory and drop Spain to 0-2 in pool play.
Lithuania 89, Nigeria 80: A strong third quarter was enough for Lithuania to pull away.
Argentina 90, Croatia 82: A late Croatian comeback was far too little, too late.
Wednesday, August 10
France 76, Serbia 75: Tony Parker's leaning corner jumper with 31 seconds left gave France a pivotal victory in a marquee Group A matchup.
USA 98, Australia 88: Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving needed to step up late to help put away Australia after a surprisingly close game for the Americans.
Venezuela 72, China 68: A close game went down to the wire, but the Venezuelans earned their first victory in Rio behind Nestor Colmenares' 16 points.
Thursday, August 11
Croatia 80, Brazil 76: The Croatians were able to do just enough to hold off a spirited Brazil comeback to get the victory.
Spain 96, Nigeria 87: Spain's defense was again porous, but they still had just enough to get by a poor Nigeria team.
Lithuania 81, Argentina 73: Led by 22 points from future Knicks forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas notched a pivotal victory in the battle for first place in Group B.
Friday, August 12
Australia 93, China 68: Even with Andrew Bogut resting, the Boomers dominated and eliminated China from medal round contention.
United States 97, Serbia 94: That was WAY closer than expected.
France 96, Venezuela 56: France found its groove and shot over 61 percent from the floor en route to its third consecutive win in the group stage.
Saturday, August 13
Argentina 111, Brazil 107: The game of the tournament -- and possibly much more. Led by 37 points from Andres Nocioni and 33 from Facundo Campazzo, Argentina rallied from eight points down with 2:30 left in regulation to stun its continental rivals in double overtime.
Spain 109, Lithuania 59: Spain finally got its groove back in a huge way, crushing previously-undefeated Lithuania in a show of power.
Nigeria 90, Croatia 76: An especially damaging loss for Croatia, who now risks missing out on the medal round and could find itself facing Team USA even if they make it.
Sunday, August 14
United States 100, France 97: Klay Thompson finally got going, but Team USA's defense was still awful even with Tony Parker sitting for France.
Australia 81, Venezuela 56: The Boomers cemented themselves as this tournament's second favorites with a convincing victory.
Serbia 94, China 60: This game was essentially meaningless, but it was still a poor effort from China.
Monday, August 15
Brazil 86, Nigeria 69: Brazil ended its tournament with a decisive victory, but it wasn't enough to make the medal rounds.
Spain 92, Argentina 73: Rudy Fernandez dropped 23 points as Spain continued its impressive resurgence after losing its first two group stage games.
Croatia 90, Lithuania 81: Banner performances from Bojan Bogdanovic, Krunoslav Simon and Dario Saric carried Croatia to a critical victory that put them atop Group A.
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