Luis Scola had a tough game Monday evening as Argentina lost to a resurgent Spain,92-73. Scola finished with seven points, five rebounds and four personals. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Pau Gasol, finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Scola was 2-of-6, including 1-of-3 from deep.
Spain, who started our group play slowly, and Argentina, who started out fast, finished the group phase at 3-2 and automatically qualified for the knock-out round, which starts Wednesday in Rio.
Argentina's "golden generation" seemed beat after a double-overtime win Saturday vs. Brazil, with the team initially resting some of the 30-plus stars. When they did play, the results were far different from Saturday Scola went from 14 and 10 to seven and five. Andres Nocioni, who scored 37 points vs. Brazil, finished with six. Carlos Delfino, attempting a comeback after three years of rehab, had only one point Monday after going scoreless on Saturday. Only Manu Ginobili did better vs. Spain than Brazil, finishing with 16 points.
If Croatia loses to Lithuania later Monday, it will play the U.S. If Croatia loses, it will be Argentina vs. Team USA.