'09 FIBA Americas: Brazil 76, Argentina 67

In Day 3 action, Brazil improved to 3-0 in Group B 1st round play with a victory over their South American rival, Argentina. Argentina dropped to 0-2, and is in serious danger of failing to advance to the 2nd round.It's obvious these teams are familiar with the others' personnel & tendencies. This is usually the case when these neighbors meet--it often leads to ragged, defensive affairs. Argentina's anemic offense wasn't aided with Scola limited to 24 mins with foul trouble. Most of the 2nd quarter was harsh with Argentina scoring only 10 pts, and Brazil scoring only 2 points in the first 7:30 of the quarter. The game was made even choppier in the 3rd quarter thanks to a spate of dubious tech/intentional foul calls. There was about 4-5 head-scratching whistles that ruined the flow; it's FIBA after all. Leandro Barbosa led Brazil in the scoring column once again with 21 pts. He did damage with pull-ups off pick/roll action, including a big pull-up 3pt. the stop an Arg. mi...