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Spain vs. USA in basketball final

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United States' Andre Iguodala (R) drives past Argentina's Federico Kammerichs, as the US defeated Argentina, 109-83, in the USA-Argentina Men's Basketball Semi-Final competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, August 10, 2012, in London, England. US will play Spain for the gold medal in the final. UPI/Mike Theiler
United States' Andre Iguodala (R) drives past Argentina's Federico Kammerichs, as the US defeated Argentina, 109-83, in the USA-Argentina Men's Basketball Semi-Final competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, August 10, 2012, in London, England. US will play Spain for the gold medal in the final. UPI/Mike Theiler 
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Published: Aug. 10, 2012 at 5:58 PM

LONDON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Kevin Durant hit four 3-pointers in the third period Friday, powering the United States into the basketball gold medal game with a 103-89 win over Argentina.

The Americans will meet Spain in the championship game Sunday, a rematch of the title contest in Beijing four years ago. On that occasion Team USA delivered a 118-107 gold medal win after holding only a 2-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Spain reached the gold medal game by overcoming a halftime deficit to defeat Russia 67-50.

The United States had a 7-point lead at the break over Argentina, a team it defeated 126-97 in group play.

Durant then got hot from the outside on his way to scoring 19 points and by the end of the third period the American lead had grown to 17.

Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James both added 18 points for the United States, which shot 53 percent from the field. The Americans attempted more shots from outside the 3-point line (42) than they did from inside it (39).

Manu Ginobili paced Argentina with 18 points.

Jose Calderon hit two 3-pointers in a 14-1 fourth-quarter run to key the Spanish victory over Russia.

The Russians limited Spain to 20 points in the first half and appeared on their way to a second victory of these Olympics over the 2008 silver medal winners.

Spain then warmed up from 3-point range to overcome a 9-point deficit and tied it through three quarters, only to fall behind again by 3 with 9:13 remaining in the game.

Over the next 5 minutes the Russians could score only 1 point while Spain was storming to a 60-50 lead.

The Spanish made just 2-of-11 3-point tries in the first half and then hit 7-of-12 over the final two quarters.

Calderon made four of those while scoring 14 points. Spain was led by Pau Gasol with 16. Sasha Kaun paced Russia with 14 points.

When the teams met in group play early in the Olympics, Russia overcame a big early deficit to down Spain 77-74. Russia went 5-0 to win its group and then defeated Lithuania in the quarterfinals.

Topics: Jose Calderon, Paul Gasol, Sasha Kaun, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James
© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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