FIBA Americas Musings on Argentina, Canada, More

What a fun weekend of basketball down in Mar del Plata, Argentina, with the FIBA Americas semifinals and final. On Saturday, Argentina survived Puerto Rico and Brazil outlasted Dominican Republic to claim the federation's two automatic bids to the 2012 London Olympics. On Sunday, Argentina held off Brazil to win the tournament before an passionate full house at home. Tourney MVP Luis Scola was magnificent, scoring 59 points on 24-35 FG in the final two games, and averaging 21.4 points on 56.5% shooting in 29.2 minutes per game overall in the tournament. Here are a few of my big-picture thoughts related to the tournament:Contents:1. Argentina: Looking Like the End of the Line2. Canada: FIBA Americas Sleeping Giant of the Future?3. Whither Splitter?4. Grande Sounded Great5. FIBA Americas Spitting Images1. Argentina: Looking Like the End of the LineEver since Argentina's Golden Generation burst onto the international basketball scene with their shocking dissection of Team USA a...