Despite losing Manu Ginobili early in the game and having Andres Nocioni and Fabricio Oberto in foul trouble, Argentina put up a fight. But the U.S. took every punch and came away with a 101-81 victory at the Wukesong Culture and Sports Center on Friday night.

It looked like another blowout with the U.S. going on an 18-0 run and Ginobili going to the locker room after reinjuring his left ankle in the first quarter. With Argentina turning the ball over seven times in the period and going 10 straight possessions without a score, the U.S. led by as many as 21, and by 19 after Nocioni hit a runner at the buzzer to close the period.

It was back to 21 early in the second when Argentina decided they had nothing to lose and went to a zone defense for the first time in the tournament. The U.S. went cold from the outside and scored on just one of their next nine possessions.

"We didn't penetrate or do anything to get in the gaps," Tayshaun Prince explained. "We were just settling."

On the other end of the floor, the U.S. was a step slow defensively, getting into foul trouble and putting Argentina into the bonus with 6:26 to go in the period. The result was a 14-3 Argentina run to cut the lead down to 10.

"I thought we played our worst defensive quarter in the second quarter," Coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game. "I don't know why ... we fouled early. We just didn't have the focus defensively in that second quarter."

After a Kobe Bryant three and four Carmelo Anthony free throws, the U.S. lead was back to 13. But Chris Paul then committed back-to-back turnovers and Luis Scola led a 9-2 run to get Argentina to within six in the final minute of the half.

On their final possession of the second quarter, the U.S. was fortunate that Juan Gutierrez was called for a foul on an Anthony three attempt with 1.3 seconds to go. Anthony's three free throws put the U.S. lead back at nine as the teams headed into their locker rooms.

But what looked like another comfortable win had turned into a dogfight.

"Argentina is a team that doesn't quit no matter who they have playing," LeBron James said afterward. "They always play for 40 minutes."

And previous incarnations of the U.S. Team would have folded when things started to go wrong. They would have let Argentina, with their physical and sometimes chippy play, get under their skin. They would have cried to the officials or looked for retaliation.

But this team just kept playing.

And they took back control of the game early in the third. It started with a pair of Dwight Howard buckets. Then, a pair from James. Then Carlos Delfino was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on Howard and the big man converted on one of his free throws before receiving a Jason Kidd pass under the basket for a throwdown.

Anthony then got in the action with a baseline jumper and four straight free throws when Fabricio Oberto got called for an unsportsmanlike foul and Andres Nocioni got T'd up immediately after. The Argentines were now beating themselves, with Oberto and Nocioni having to sit down with four fouls each less than halfway through the third quarter.

The Americans quickly built their lead back up to 20, and while the game never got out of hand, Argentina never threatened again.

Anthony shot just 3-for-14 from the field, but got to the line 13 times and led the U.S. with 21 points. James added 15 and Chris Bosh recorded the team's second double-double of the Olympics with 11 points and 10 boards. The U.S. shot just 47 percent from the field, but outrebounded Argentina 43-32 and got to the line 20 more times than their opponent.

It wasn't pretty, and it lacked fast break highlights. But all that matters in this game is the final score. Jim Valvano said it best: Survive and advance.

And the U.S. has advanced to Sunday's gold medal game (2:30 a.m. ET) against Spain, who beat Lithuania 91-86 in the first semifinal on Friday. Spain could be without point guard Jose Calderon, who is nursing a partially torn adductor muscle that caused him to miss Friday's semifinal. And of course, with Calderon healthy, the U.S. beat Spain by 37 in pool play.

Still, come Sunday, the U.S. will pretend the previous game never happened.

"We don't think about what we did to Spain last time," James said about his team's first repeat opponent of the tournament. "It's a brand new game and we're going to push it like it's a brand new game."

Spain, like Argentina, will try to be physical with the U.S. Like Argentina, they'll play zone, hoping the U.S. will shoot poorly from the perimeter. And like Argentina, they'll try to get under the Americans' skin and disrupt their focus. In short, Spain will play tough.

But the U.S. has taken everything their seven opponents have dished out so far. And they're ready for more.

"We've waited for this moment for four years," Deron Williams said. "If you think we played hard the last seven games, just wait until Sunday."

The Road to Redemption has had its bumps, but no real detours. And now the destination is just 40 minutes away.

John Schuhmann will be covering USA Basketball throughout the Beijing Olympics. Send him a question or comment.