Rio 2016 Olympics – Day 2 Recap

By Bradley Gains on August 8, 2016

Image credit: FIBA

The second day of basketball at the Rio Olympics didn’t disappoint with more drama coming from Group B in the men’s tournament.

Here’s a brief recap on what went down on Day 2:

Brazil v Lithuania

A cliche game of two halves as Lithuania survived a valiant comeback effort from the hosts in an 82-76 success. Leo Barbosa had a game-high 21 points to help haul Brazil back into contention having found themselves in a deep hole, down 58-29 at half-time. They still trailed by 19 heading into the fourth, but closed to within four points before Lithuania kept them at bay. Mantas Kalnietis led his side with 16 points and eight assists, while four other players reached double digits in the opening win.

Box score.

Croatia v Spain

In the second game of the day, Croatia pulled off a shock result as they stunned Spain with a 72-70 comeback triumph. The London 2012 silver medalists looked impressive early on in a 20-8 start and despite a stronger second quarter from Croatia, they re-established their early double-digit lead in the third quarter. Spain looked in control at 50-36 inside the final three minutes of the third but a 9-0 run sparked a revival from their opponents, who then moved ahead with a 10-2 start to the fourth. A tense finale ensued and Croatia did enough to get over the line, thanks in large to Dario Saric’s overtime-denying block at the buzzer. Bojan Bogdanovic had 23 points for the victors to help counter a combined 45 from Pau Gasol (26) and Nikola Mirotic.

Box score.

Nigeria v Argentina

The last two teams to open their tournament campaign and it was a relatively one-sided affair as Argentina powered to a 94-66 victory over Nigeria. They had opened up a 19-point advantage at the half-time interval and continued to extend the gap in the second half to register a convincing opening win in Group B. Facundo Campazzo led the way with 19 points and was closely followed by captain Luis Scola’s effort of 18 points along with nine rebounds. As for Nigeria, they had a captain’s display of their own with Ike Diogu completing a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds in the losing effort.

Box score.

Women’s results:
Australia 61-56 Turkey, France 73-72 Belarus (Group A)
USA 121-56 Senegal, Serbia 59-65 Spain (Group B)

The schedule for Day 3 is as follows as Group B gets underway:

Day 3: Monday 8th August
4.00pm—1.30am – Women’s preliminary rounds: Spain v USA (4.00pm); Canada v Serbia (6.15pm); Japan v Brazil (9.30pm); Senegal v China (11.45pm)

6.15pm—4.15am – Men’s preliminary rounds: Serbia v Australia (6.15pm); USA v Venezuela (11.00pm); France v China (2.30am)

Full schedule here.

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