The men's basketball competition at Rio Olympics is down to the final eight with Gold-medal favorite USA taking on rival Argentina, Spain battling France, Croatia slugging it out with Serbia, and Australia colliding with Lithuania on busy Wednesday at Carioca Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Australia vs. Lithuania at 10 a.m US EST: Live Stream / Replay on NBC Sports & Boxscores
Blitz Prediction: In what will surely be a highly physical contest, Australia is expected to capitalize on Lithuania's weakness that has been exposed in their last two matches. Lithuania just couldn't defend in the open court, and Australia has the weapons in Patty Mills and Matthew Dellevadova to seize that advantage. Australia by double digit 80-68.
Spain vs. France at 1:15 p.m US EST: Live Stream / Replay & Boxscores
Blitz Prediction: The latest encounter between two European powerhouses should be another classic with everything on the line for both teams. France is seeking their first Olympic medal since grabbing silver in Sydney, while Spain wants another trip in the finals and one more crack at team USA - which France pushed to the limit without Tony Parker. But in the end, I see France squeezing out a close win, eliminating their rival in the competition in the process.
USA vs. Argentina at 5:45 p.m US EST: Live Stream / Replay & Boxcscores
Blitz Prediction: It's been 12 years since Argentina's historic win over USA in the semifinal of men's basketball competition at the Athens Olympics. USA's humiliation loss at that time created super-teams like the Redeem Team in Beijing and Redeem Team II in London. Now, Argentina looks to pounce on that opportunity of stunning the Americans at their weakest.
With stars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Russell Westbrook deciding to stay home, team USA found themselves in vulnerable spots as proven by three close matches with Australia, Serbia and then France in group play.
Argentina will provide Team USA a lot of problems in this match. Andres Nacioni, Luis Scola and Manu Ginobili, the power trio that helped Argentina won the gold in 2014, will continue to be the catalysts for their team. However, despite their lousy performance of late, USA will find a way to grind out a win and advance to the semifinal round.
Croatia vs. Serbia at 9:15 p.m US EST: Live Stream / Replay & Boxscores
Blitz Prediction: After failing to quality into the Beijing and London Games, the Serbian are back with a grand mission. They have already proven capable of pulling off great things when they gave Team USA a run for their money in the group stages, losing by only three to the gold medal favorite 94-91.
For Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric and the rest of the Croatian basketball team, a quarterfinal win over Serbia will put them in the semifinal final round of the Olympic men's basketball game for the first time since Hall of Famer Drazen Petrovic carried the nation to a silver medal finish at the Barcelona Olympics. It's been 24 years since that golden moment for Croatian basketball and they would love to bring the glory back to their homeland at the expense of their rival.
In arguably the most competitive game among the four quarterfinal match-ups in Rio, Croatia vs. Serbia is expected to go down the wire. Both are good at capitalizing mistake of the opposing teams and they do have great players in the frontline and backcourt. But in the end, I can see Serbia eking out a hard-earned victory at Carioca Arena.