LeBron James put on another shooting clinic in a 118-81 rout of Argentina as the US locked up a tournament gold medal to go with an Olympic berth at the FIBA Americas Championship on Sunday.
James, who had a perfect night against Uruguay earlier in the tournament by hitting all 11 of his field goals, led the heavily favored US team with four 3-pointers in the third quarter and capped his night with a game-high 31 points.
"LeBron's performance was one of the best ever in an international game that a US player has ever had," US coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
PHOTO: AP
Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard also looked unstoppable, sending the US to a 25-point lead at the half in front of a crowd of about 9,000 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. Anthony finished with 16 points and eight rebounds and Howard had 20 points and five rebounds.
"This Team USA is one of the best I have ever seen," Argentina head coach Sergio Hernandez said. "Nobody will ever forget the first Dream Team with Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, but I like this USA team very much with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. They really know how to play together."
The USA and defending Olympic champion Argentina were playing for FIBA Americas bragging rights as both countries had already clinched berths in the basketball tournament for next year's Beijing Olympics.
Elias Ayuso scored 39 points and Carlos Arroyo had 30 and 10 assists as Puerto Rico beat Brazil 111-107 for the bronze medal earlier in the day.
USA and Argentina join China (host country), Spain (world champion), Iran (Asia), Australia (Oceania) and Angola (Africa) in next year's Olympic Games.
Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Canada will get another chance to qualify at a 12-team FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament next July in which three more countries will punch their tickets to China.
The US were never seriously challenged at this zone qualifying tournament and heading into the final their 39.2 average margin of victory was one of the highest in tournament history.
"The thing I enjoyed most about this team is that everybody put their egos aside," James said. "Guys like Kobe who win scoring titles every year handed it over to Carmelo. We are all here for one reason and that is to win the gold medal."
Hernandez said it was a humbling experience to lose by 37 points but not something the Argentines are going to hang their heads over.
"If they can beat me by 40 points then that is what I want to have happen," he said. "If they can do that then I don't want them to beat me by 20 points. They play hard all the time."
Win or lose, the Argentina fans danced and cheered throughout the game as they took up their familiar section in the east end of the lower bowl. They climbed on their seats, toasted each other, pumped their fists and waived their country's blue and white colors.
Luis Scola, who looks like a taller version of Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash, continued his impressive play by scoring 23 points. Scola is considered to be one of the best players in the world not playing in the NBA. He is expected to join the Houston Rockets and play alongside Yao Ming this season.
Argentina will be making its fifth appearance in the Olympics with the gold in Athens being their lone medal.
Argentina reached the Sunday's gold-medal game despite missing four of its NBA stars -- guard Manu Ginobili (San Antonio Spurs), forward Andres Nocioni (Chicago Bulls), center Fabrico Oberto (San Antonio) and forward Walter Hermann (Charlotte Bobcats).
Both Puerto Rico and Brazil failed in their bids to qualify for the Beijing Olympics on Saturday but they will get one more chance.
Puerto Rico shot 50 percent from the field and 26-of-28 from the free throw line in front of a sparse crowd of about 900 in the 18,500 seat arena.
Puerto Rico was on the verge of being eliminated from the tournament on Aug. 26 when Panama was leading Argentina by eight points late in the fourth quarter.
A victory by Panama would have knocked Puerto Rico out, but Argentina rallied to force overtime and ended up winning. Panama was eliminated, Puerto Rico advanced and now they remain in the Olympic hunt.
Puerto Rico started slowly against Brazil, but then took over late in the first quarter jumping out to a 26-12 lead at the end of the first.
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