Australia 95 - Russia 80:
- Very little defense played in this one. Andrew Bogut scored 22 points with eight rebounds in his best game of the tournament by far. He'd scored just 27 points combined over the first three games. That's more like it from Bogut, a serious breakout candidate.
- Andrei Kirilenko had a horrible shooting night, going 1-for-10 from the field. He did manage six rebounds and five assists and has been very active in both categories this tournament, showing that he could still be a Rotisserie beast under the right circumstances. Prior to this game, AK-47 had scored at least 15 points in each of the three games coming in.
- Linas Kleiza had a bounce-back game after being held to four points against Russia. He hit four shots from beyond the arc and finished with 18 points to go with four rebounds. Kleiza could be in for a productive season if the Nuggets can find him about 25-30 minutes per game. With very limited options in the front court, it's possible they play small often and use Kleiza more often.
- Roko Ukic of the Toronto Raptors had a surprisingly active game, shooting 5-for-13 from the field and scoring a team-high 13 points. He added four rebounds and an assist. Don't read too much into this one, though. He won't play big minutes in Toronto.
- Manu Ginobili leads all scorers in Beijing with 21.5 ppg after scoring 32 points against the weakest team in the tournament. But Manu has been pretty consistent against stronger teams like Lithuania as well. Argentina hasn't been over-exerting him, though, which is nice. He's playing around 30 minutes per game.
- Luis Scola can be a pretty solid offensive player. He's shown that at these Olympics. He was 9-for-13 from the field and finished with a tournament-high (for him) 20 points. The Rockets won't be giving him that many shots often, but remember this in case Yao Ming goes down with another injury this year.
- Andres Nocioni had a slow game statistically, but he was very solid defensively and was never really needed to score. He's been playing well during the Olympics and the Bulls would like him to play well since they are looking to trade him.
- OK. Yao is back. The deeper we get into this tournament, the more he looks like his conditioning is getting back to normal and the 25 points and 11 rebounds he put up against NBA competition (Chris Kaman and Dirk Nowitzki) were impressive.
- Yi Jianlian has been very active on the glass. He brought down 11 rebounds for the second straight game and has at least nine boards in three straight games. He hasn't been very much to look at on the offensive end, though (8.0 ppg).
- Sun Yue, the Lakers' newest addition, has not been very impressive to this point. He's been passing up a lot of shots and hasn't been setting up his teammates. Supposedly, he's a very good passer and I just haven't seen that yet.
- Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman are the only players on the German team that did anything and Dirk was doing most of the heavy lifting. He had 24 points with 17 rebounds, but that came more out of neccessity than anything else.
- Spain seemed to be trying not to show all their cards in this one, trying to save whatever they've got for the U.S. for a possible matchup in the next round. Team USA is more than likely better than they are, but not 37 points better.
- Only two players scored in double figures for Spain (Pau Gasol, 13; Felipe Reyes, 19).
- We've beaten this into the ground, but Dwyane Wade is looking better than ever. He's in outstanding physical shape and the Miami Heat -- and Fantasy owners -- have to be thrilled with his recovery from his knee injury.
- Jason Kidd attempted -- and made -- his first basket of the tournament.
- Chris Paul had his best game of the Olympics so far with 15 points and eight assists and Deron Williams played better than he had been playing as well with 11 points and three assists.
- Eight players for Team USA scored in double figures (LeBron James, 18; Dwyane Wade, 16; Carmelo Anthony, 16; Chris Paul, 14; Kobe Bryant, 11; Deron Williams, 11; Dwight Howard, 10; Tayshaun Prince, 10).