2020 Olympics: Bonga and Germany eliminated in quarterfinals, USA overcomes slow start to beat Spain

The 2020 Olympics quarterfinals of the men’s basketball tournament are finished. Here are the recaps from the games.

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Germany’s Olympic run ends after 94-70 loss to Slovenia

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Luka Doncic scored 20 points grabbed 8 rebounds and dished 11 assists as the Slovenia men’s national team blew out Germany 94-70. Zoran Dragic added 27 points, shooting 11-of-13 from the field.

While it was a blowout, Germany did manage to lead briefly, 32-31 in the middle of the second quarter after giving up a double-digit lead from the start. But again, the Slovenes were just too much as they shot 54 percent from the field (including 42.9 percent from three).

For Germany, Issac Bonga scored 9 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished 3 assists to lead Die Mannschaft in the latter category. Maodo Lo led their scorers with 11 points.

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Kevin Durant’s 20 point night leads USA to 95-81 win over Spain after early scare

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The USA Basketball men’s national team appears to be gelling together a bit better as the Olympic tournament has gone on. They defeated World Cup champions Spain 95-81, but it wasn’t a walk in the park.

The Spanish kept things close throughout the first half and led for most of the second quarter, where they had a 10 point lead at one point. However, the USA had a monster second half to take control of the game going the rest of the way.

Kevin Durant led Team USA with 29 points, making 4 three-pointers and dished 4 assists. The player of the game however would be Spain’s Ricky Rubio, who scored a career-high (including his NBA games) 38 points and grabbing 4 rebounds. Rubio, who’s better known for dishing assists only dished two total. The big stat difference in this game also happened to be assists, where Spain only dished 12 total while the USA had 28.

For Spain, this may be the end of an era of sorts, because some of their long-time veterans are past their prime, including Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Raul Fernandez. Their run of three consecutive medals has come to an end. For the Gasols specifically, it is also likely their last time on the Olympic stage.

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France defeats Italy, 84-75 after strong performances by Batum, Fournier and Gobert

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While the USA may be the paper favorites, even considering their string of losses in friendlies and against France in group play, I’d like to say that France may very well win la medaille d’or anyway.

Anyway, the French held Italy to just 32.4 percent shooting in an 84-75 win. The most impressive part for Les Bleus was their rebounding margin where they dominated 49-33. Nicolas Batum had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Evan Fournier added 21 points and Rudy Gobert led their scorers with 22 points.

For Italy, they stayed in the game by forcing the French to commit 20 turnovers while committing 9 themselves. They also made it to the free throw line 28 times. Simone Fontecchio led Italy with 23 points and Danilo Gallinari added 21 more.

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Australia beats Argentina 97-59

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The Boomers defeated Argentina in dominating fashion after surviving an early run by the silver medalists in the World Cup.

Patty Mills led the Boomers with 18 points (including three three-pointers) and 4 assists. The Boomers shot 17-of-38 from there which helped extend their margin of victory in the second half.

For Argentina, Nicolas Laprovittola scored 16 points and dished 4 assists. In addition, long-time NBA veteran Luis Scola scored 7 points in what was likely his last game. Like the Gasols, Scola was a perennial figure on several Olympic teams. And he is the only non-American to have a Gold Medal where he was on the 2004 team that won it all in Athens, Greece.

The Argentine Basketball Federation had a bit of fun with Scola’s longevity as well since he is 41 years old and still played well throughout these games.

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Semifinals schedule

The semifinals will be on Thursday. All games can be streamed on Peacock, but you will need a subscription to watch USA games. Here is the schedule:

• USA vs. Australia, 12:15 a.m. ET
• France vs. Slovenia, 7 a.m. ET

For the USA specifically, they will go against a Boomers team that defeated them in a friendly on July 12. It will not surprise me to see the Boomers win again though you never know. France should be favored against Slovenia, but it’s clear that Doncic will be the best player on the floor.