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Beijing 2008 Olympics USA Basketball Leads Argentina at Halftime: For the first time in this 2008 Beijing Olympics, the United States Men’s Basketball Team came out with a sense of urgency from the opening tip-off against a banged up Argentinean team. Team USA jumped out to an early 21-point lead still in the first quarter, but they got a bit too comfortable as Argentina crawled back to make it a game. Even before the game began, Argentina's Andres Nocioni was getting knee treatment and was questionably to play, but that didn't matter as everyone else stepped up. At Halftime, the United States' lead was chopped to only 9 points (49-40). At SportsBook.com, Team USA Basketball was -19½ betting odds favorites against a very good Argentina team (+19½).  In the first quarter, Manu Ginobili went down with an ankle injury, and was taken to the locker room to get it checked out. However, it didn’t matter who was on the floor for Argentina, as Team USA jumped all over them with an 18-0 run. Argentina was able to beat the first quarter buzzer with a running 3-pointer. After the first quarter, Team USA had a commanding 30-11 lead. At the start of the second quarter, with Ginobili in the locker room, Argentina would not go away, as the Americans fell in love shooting the 3-ball, and playing sloppy defense. With a 12-3 run, Argentina was able to cut the USA’s deficit to just 12 points (25-37) with just over 5 minutes to play in the half. In contrast to the duration of the tournament, the second quarter became a dread for the Americans as Argentina kept the pressure on, and kept cutting into the lead. The OVER/UNDER in this semifinal game between Team USA vs. Argentina has been set at a total of 183 points. The United States, who started 4-9 from 3-point range went cold as they shot 1-8 after their sizzling start. Here are both team's stats at the half: Field goals: USA 15-33, ARG 13-31 3-pointers: USA 6-20 , ARG 2-10 Free-throws: USA 13-16, ARG 12-12 Steals: USA 6, ARG 3 Def. Rebounds: USA 12, ARG 14 Turnovers: USA 7, ARG 12
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