Argentina Beats Brazil

ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) – It was time for the South American giants, Argentina and Brazil, to meet in Turkey, and it was probably the most exciting game of the tournament so far as the Argentinians won 93-89, and advanced to the Quarter Finals where they will face Lithuania on Thursday.

Both teams have met many times at regional and continental competitions, but not at a FIBA World Championship where they have played 5 times, Argentina winning the series 4-1. Now they showed the world the quality of games that they always play.

The game was balanced and fiery since the start, where both teams displayed an impressive shooting performance in the first quarter. Argentina rested their offense on the secure hands of Luis Scola while Carlos Delfino was on fire from three point range (3-3). Brazil was led by their backcourt of Marcelo Huertas and Leandrinho Barbosa who couldn’t find their post up players and had to shoot from the perimeter.

The first quarter ended tied at 25, where Barbosa and Huertas combined for 20 of their points while Scola and Delfino combined for 18. Argentina shot 69% (9-13) from the field and 12 of their points were in the paint.

Argentina controlled most of the second quarter led by their balanced attack while Brazil struggled against the Argentinean pressure. At the end Marcelo Huertas scored 6 of their 8 points in an 8-0 run, their longest at that point, to give Brazil a 48-46 halftime lead.

Brazil got to a quick start in the third quarter, taking a 55-48 lead thanks to their offense in the paint and kept the lead until baskets by Scola and Delfino left it tied at 66.

In the final quarter Leandro Barbosa came in hot with two straight three pointers, but an unlikely figure came back to tie it as Hernan Jasen responded to tie it at 72. The rest of the game was close where both teams didn’t want to give anything. Argentina was led by Luis Scola, who scored 6 points in a row and after a desperation three by Marcelo Huertas with 1.9 seconds (91-89), he sealed the game with two free throws with 1.2 seconds.

Scola finished with 37 points, 22 of them in the second half while Carlos Delfino had 20 and Hernan Jasen 15.

Brazil had Marcelo Huertas with 32 points, Leandrinho Barbosa with 20 and Tiago Splitter along with Marcelinho Machado 10 each.