16Olympics

Joey Ramirez

The Spanish National Team may have fell short of expectations in Rio de Janeiro, but Jose Calderon and co. nonetheless finished on the podium, as a victory over Australia Sunday earned them the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics.

Calderon — who played infrequently in his fourth Olympics — did not participate in the thriller over the Australians, as Pau Gasol (31 points, 11 rebounds) pushed Spain to a medal despite the best efforts of Patty Mills (30 points).

Aron Baynes put Australia up by one with 9.7 seconds left, but controversy followed, as Mills was called for a foul on Sergio Rodriguez’s ensuing drive to the hoop. Rodriguez drained both free throws for an 89-88 lead with 5.4 seconds to go, and the Australians were unable to get off a final shot.

The finish was especially painful for 11th-ranked Australia considering that the country has never medaled in men’s basketball at the Olympics.

Calderon, meanwhile, captured his third medal after being a key cog in Spain’s run to silver in both 2008 and 2012.

He averaged 2.2 points and 0.6 assists in only 5.1 minutes in Rio. In fact, he only played one minute total in his team’s first two games, as No. 2 Spain suffered back-to-back upsets by Croatia and Brazil.

The new Laker logged about six minutes in each of Spain’s four following games, including when he put in his best effort in a win over Argentina with six points on 2-of-4 shooting.

Calderon followed that by going 1-of-3 for two points in a quarterfinals rout against France. He did not play any more after, sitting in his team’s loss to top-ranked United States and its victory in the bronze medal match.

The 34-year-old entered Rio averaging 8.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in his Olympic career. He played only 25 minutes total this year, and has now appeared in 26 contests for Spain at the Games.

Calderon can credit much of this medal to Gasol, who dominated throughout the tournament, averaging the fourth-most points (19.5), while shooting 54.5 percent from the field (fifth) and 52.2 percent on 3-pointers (second).

He also led all players in rebounding with 8.9 boards per game and was second in blocks with 1.9.

calderon-spain-take-home-bronze-from-rio

Calderon, Spain Take Home Bronze From Rio

Pool play is officially finished in Rio, and Lakers.com’s Rodrigo Azurmendi and Joey Ramirez discuss the main storylines heading into the quarterfinals of Olympic hoops. Despite seeming beatable at times, Team USA is still the clear favorite, but who can challenge them both now and in the future? Plus, Marcelo Huertas was stellar for Brazil, but why wasn’t it enough to keep them from being eliminated?

You can also subscribe to the Popcorn Machine via iTunes.

popcorn-machine-rio-update

Popcorn Machine: Rio Update

Considering the expectations that come with hosting the Olympics and going 5-0 in pre-Olympic exhibitions, Brazil’s elimination in pool play can be considered a disappointment for a team looking to make a run in the knockout rounds.

Despite the Brazilians just barely missing the quarterfinals, Lakers point guard Marcelo Huertas nonetheless used the Games as a platform to showcase his skills, gaining some attention along the way, including from NBA teammates D’Angelo Russell and Tarik Black, who both took to social media to show they were following his games.

As Brazil’s captain in Rio de Janeiro, Huertas efficiently directed the offense with his trademark, creative style. In fact, “Marcelinho” exits the tournament with the third-highest assist average (6.6), behind only Matthew Dellavedova (8.6) and Mantas Kalnietis (8.0).

In spite of his strong overall performance, Huertas’ debut in Rio wasn’t so promising. In his team’s 82-76 loss in the opener to Lithuania, Huertas (five points, three assists) sat the entire second half as Brazil trailed by as many as 30 points. While he watched from the bench, the Brazilians nearly pulled off the unbelievable comeback but fell just short in the final minutes.

However, he followed that with a critical performance against Spain, as Brazil upset the No. 2 team in the world, according to FIBA, 66-65. Huertas finished with 11 points and seven rebounds — both of which were team-highs — plus four rebounds to lead the victory. His key play was actually a miss, as Marcus Vinicius de Souza collected his offensive rebound and scored the go-ahead bucket with 5.5 seconds left.

Unfortunately for Brazil, the momentum didn’t completely carry over to the next game, as it was unable to scratch past Croatia in an 80-76 loss. Huertas was steady again, tallying 10 points, nine assists and two steals, including a layup that cut the Croatians’ lead to three with four minutes left. But Bojan Bogdanovic (33 points) was simply too hot to overcome.

After that was a crucial game against Argentina, and the rival countries did not disappoint, needing double overtime to settle a shootout that Brazil eventually dropped, 111-107. Huertas scored 14 points with three assists and hit a pair of key free throws with seconds left, but Argentina tied the game on a late 3-pointer by Andres Nocioni (37 points, 11 rebounds, eight 3’s) and won after regulation behind Facundo Campazzo (33 points, 11 assists).

Needing a win over Nigeria to avoid elimination, Huertas stepped up to direct the 96-69 victory. He finished with 12 points, six rebounds and 11 assists, while saving his best for the final quarter. With his team up by six, Huertas scored 10 points in the final six minutes to ice it. He also shot 6-of-6 on free throws, which boosted him to ninth on the Olympics leaderboard in foul percentage (88.2 percent; 15-of-17).

This was the second Olympic run for Huertas, who turned some heads back in London as well. He averaged 11.3 points and 6.0 assists in 2012, but it didn’t translate to a ton of team success then either, as Brazil was knocked out by Argentina in the quarterfinals.

huertas-shines-in-brazils-olympic-run

Huertas Shines In Brazil's Olympic Run

With his team on the brink of elimination, Lakers point guard Marcelo Huertas turned in his best performance yet at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Huertas racked up 12 points, six rebounds and 11 assists, directing the high-flying Brazilians to an 86-69 victory over Nigeria.

The captain of Brazil (2-3), Huertas stepped up when the Nigerians came within in striking distance of an upset. The Rio hosts led by six midway through the fourth quarter before Huertas took the game into his own hands.

Via a series of layups and free throws, the Sao Paulo native scored 10 points in the final six minutes at Carioca Arena to prevent his team from behind knocked out of the tournament.

While he was the go-to scorer at the end of the game, Huertas spent the majority of the contest setting up his teammates, including Nene (19 points), Alex Garcia (13) and Rafael Hettsheimeir (12) — all of whom received three assists each from “Marcelinho.”

The Brazilians led by as many as 20 points but were only up by seven entering the final period. However, led by Huertas — who also shot 6-of-6 on free throws and snagged three offensive rebounds — they outscored Nigeria (1-4) in the fourth, 27-17.

However, Brazil only managed to stave off elimination for a few hours. In order for the Brazilians to make it to the quarterfinals, they needed some help from their rivals, Argentina, which could have eliminated Spain by beating it later that day.

However, the Spaniards instead cruised to a 92-73 victory behind Rudy Fernandez (23 points, 8-of-10) and Pau Gasol (19 points, 13 rebounds).

Argentina never truly threatened, leading for only three minutes all game and trailing by as many as 22 points.

Spain's wide margin opened up some playing time for Huertas' new teammate on the Lakers, Jose Calderon, who logged seven minutes at point guard. Calderon hasn't gotten off the bench much in Rio, but he made the most of his opportunity this time by recording six points and a steal.

Spain now faces France (3-2) on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., while Argentina takes on the United States (5-0) later that day at 2:45.

huertas-leads-brazil-to-victory-in-olympic-finale

Huertas Leads Brazil to Victory In Olympic Finale

At several points throughout the extended ending of Brazil’s crucial match with Argentina, it looked like the Rio Olympics hosts were going to pull out victory against their rivals.

However, due to monumental twin efforts by Andres Nocioni and Facundo Campazzo, Argentina survived the shootout with a 111-107 double-overtime win at Carioca Arena.

Lakers point guard Marcelo Huertas served as the director of Brazil’s offense, tallying 14 points (5-of-11) and three assists. However, the Brazilian captain was absent when his team needed him most, having fouled out early in the first overtime.

Nocioni was an inferno for Argentina (2-2) all night long, racking up 37 points, which tied teammate Luis Scola’s national Olympic record from the 2008 Games.

While also collecting 11 rebounds, Nocioni shot 11-of-19 from the field and 7-of-8 on free throws, plus a game-breaking 8-of-12 from 3-point range. He saved his most sensational play for the end of regulation after Huertas hit a pair of clutch free throws.

Nocioni fired a corner triple on the next possession, which bounced around the rim and in to tie at 85 with three seconds left. Brazil (1-3) came up fruitless on its responding attempt, as Nene Hilario passed to Huertas at the least second, and the Laker’s desperation shot simply bounced off the side of the backboard.

Huertas — who entered the game with the Olympics’ third-highest assist average (6.3)— was in charge to start the extra frame, hitting Alex Garcia for a dime on the first score of overtime. However, “Marcelinho” picked up his fifth and final foul immediately after.

The Brazilians nonetheless led by as many as six in the first overtime before Argentina clawed its way back. Campazzo capped off this blitz by providing the tying layup with 36 seconds remaining.

Argentina took over from the start of double overtime, opening up the period with eight unanswered points. Leandro Barbosa, who was scoreless until this point, nearly singlehandedly brought Brazil back by scoring nine straight for his team to cut its deficit to 106-105 with 77 seconds left.

Though Nocioni and Scola (14 points, 10 rebounds) fouled out, Argentina still came away with the victory.

Much of this win could be credited to Campazzo, who recorded his team’s third double-double with 33 points and 11 assists. He also shot 9-of-22 from the field and 10-of-12 at the foul line while adding  five 3-pointers and four steals.

On the other end, Nene led Brazil with 25 points (11-of-17) and 11 rebounds.

Now saddled with a 1-3 record, Brazil must win its final game in pool play and receive some help in order to advance to the quarterfinals. The Brazilians will need to defeat Nigeria on Monday at 10:15 a.m. PT and sneak in via losses by Spain or Croatia.

If Brazil wins and only Spain loses, the Brazilians will move on due to their head-to-head win over the Spaniards. If Croatia loses as well then the two teams that scored the most points will advance. As of now, Spain has 340, followed by Brazil (325) and Croatia (310).

However, Brazil does not own the head-to-head advantage over the Croatians.

At 1-3 with 323 points scored, Nigeria also has an outside chance of making the quarterfinals.

Spain Dominates Grudge Match
Huertas' fellow Laker, Jose Calderon, watched his Spanish national team dominate Lithuania, 109-59, later in the day. With the game well in hand, Calderon came off the bench in the fourth quarter, played six minutes and tallied three points, one rebound and one assist.

Spain (2-2), which had lost twice to Lithuania (3-1) in pre-Olympics exhibitions, had no problem this time around, never trailed as it got off to a 26-11 first quarter. Later on, the second-ranked Spaniards piled it on by doubling their opponent in a 61-30 second half.

Pau Gasol led the way with 23 points, including a perfect 5-of-5 mark on 3-pointers, en route to handing the No. 3 Lithuanians their first loss in Rio.

Spain now looks to secure a spot in the quarterfinals by beating Argentina on Monday at 3 p.m.

huertas-brazil-fall-to-rival-argentina-in-double-overtime

Huertas, Brazil Fall to Rival Argentina In Double Overtime

Marcelo Huertas had the Brazilian National Team’s offense running smoothly in its third game of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but the hosts dropped the crucial contest due to an absurd performance from Croatia’s Bojan Bogdanovic.

Huertas nearly tallied a double-double with 10 points and nine assists, while adding pairs of rebounds and steals. However, Bogdanovic was able to get a bucket seemingly whenever he wanted. The Brooklyn Nets’ shooting guard dropped 33 points — the most in Croatian Olympic history — to push his team to an 80-76 victory.

Huertas, the captain of Brazil (1-2), jump-started the offense early with a 3-pointer and three assists in the first five minutes at Carioca Arena. However, with the Laker sitting for the majority of the second quarter, Croatia (2-1) was able to extend its two-point lead to 41-31 at halftime.

The Utah Jazz’s Raul Neto started at point guard in the second half in place of Huertas, but didn’t get much going for the Brazilians. But with “Marcelinho” back on the floor, Brazil made some moves.

Huertas’ layup with four minutes left capped a 13-5 run that cut Croatia’s lead down to 69-66. Brazil had an opportunity to tie seconds later, but Alex Garcia’s 3-pointer was off the mark and the hosts never came closer.

Always looking to pass first, Huertas finished the game 3-of-5 from the field, while Leandro Barbosa led the team with 16 points (7-of-18). Both Brazilians were overshadowed by Bogdanovic, who shot 10-of-16 from the field and 10-of-11 on free throws en route to scoring the most points of any player at the 2016 Games thus far.

This matchup was a crucial one for both teams, who are fighting to survive in a closely contested Group B.

Of the group’s six teams, four will advance. Argentina and Lithuania have each begun 2-0, while Spain — ranked No. 2 in the world by FIBA — looks to turn around its 1-2 start after falling to both Croatia and Brazil.

Only Nigeria, which is 0-3, figures to be a longshot in the group.

Huertas and co. now look forward to facing their rivals, Argentina, on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. PT, while Croatia takes on the Nigerians later that day at 6:30.

Calderon, Spain Avoid Stunner
The Lakers' other representative in Rio, Jose Calderon, continued to play sparingly while his country barely pulled out its first win of the tournament. Spain — which is ranked No. 2 in the world by FIBA — beat Nigeria 96-87 in a contest that was much closer than the final score would suggest.

Despite trailing by as many as 16 points, the 25th-ranked Nigerians were in range of an upset. They actually led Spain (1-2) by one entering the fourth quarter and trailed by only one with 2:58 left. However, Pau Gasol (16 points, seven rebounds) and Ricky Rubio (15 points) were able to help send the FIBA Africa champions to an 0-3 start in the Olympics.

Calderon only logged six minutes, tallying two assists and a rebound. Nigeria's Chamberlain Oguchi led all players with 24 points.

Spain will continue to look for its rhythm on Saturday at 3 p.m. PT when it faces No. 3 Lithuania.

huertas-stands-out-in-brazils-loss-to-croatia

Huertas Stands Out In Brazil's Loss to Croatia

With Marcelo Huertas guiding the way, the Brazilian National Team gave its home crowd an unforgettable performance, upsetting No. 2 Spain at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, 66-65.

“Marcelinho” was the conductor of Brazil’s offense, tallying 11 points and seven assists — both of which were team-highs.

The Laker also pitched in four rebounds, as ninth-ranked Brazil took a three-point halftime lead at Carioca Arena 1 before piling on with a 19-14 third quarter.

But Spain, which — like Brazil — lost its Olympic opener on Sunday, wasn’t about to roll over for the hosts.

Led by Pau Gasol, who finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, the Spaniards were able to cut Brazil’s lead to two with four minutes remaining. Yet Huertas had an answer ready, hitting a jumper in the paint on the next possession.

Still, Spain made its move from there. Gasol hit a pair of free throws and Sergio Llull splashed a 3-pointer before adding another foul shot to steal the lead at 65-63 with a minute left.

After Nene Hilario went 1-of-2 at the foul line, Huertas found himself with the ball on Brazil’s final possession.

He started the game 4-of-6 from the field but missed his last four shots, including the attempt to take the lead. Fortunately for the Brazilians, Marcus Vinicius de Souza — also known as “Marquinhos” — snuck past Nikola Mirotic for the offensive rebound and go-ahead tip-in with 5.5 seconds remaining.

Llull missed Spain’s final shot, giving Brazil its first victory in Rio.

While Huertas paved the way to victory, Vinicius scored 10 points and Augusto Lima added nine points and 10 rebounds.

On the other side, Gasol was clearly his team’s best player, but he struggled all game long, shooting just 4-of-11 from the field and a dismal 5-of-12 on free throws.

None of Gasol’s teammates were able to provide much assistance, including Huertas’ new teammate in Los Angeles, Jose Calderon, who made his Rio debut but played just 72 seconds and did not register a stat.

Brazil moves to 1-1 ahead of its meeting with Croatia on Thursday at 10:15 a.m. PT, while Spain shockingly falls to 0-2.

The reigning back-to-back Olympic silver medalists — who face Nigeria on Thursday at 3 p.m. — will potentially need to win their final three games of pool play simply to advance to the knockout stage.

The bottom two squads in the six-team Group B will be eliminated, and only Spain and Nigeria have yet to record a win.

huertas-leads-brazils-upset-over-spain

Huertas Leads Brazil's Upset Over Spain

Brazil went 6-0 in its pre-Olympics exhibitions, including a victory over third-ranked Lithuania in the final round of the Brazil Super Challenge. However, the Rio Olympics hosts simply weren’t ready for the rematch to open the 2016 Games.

Captained by Lakers point guard Marcelo Huertas, the Brazilians trailed by as many as 30 points early in the third quarter. Huertas — who finished with five points, two rebounds and three assists in 14 minutes — sat the entire second half while his teammates nearly completed a historic comeback.

However, Lithuania managed to survive with an 82-76 victory at Carioca Arena 1.

Brazil head coach Ruben Magnano elected to insert some youth at halftime by having the Utah Jazz’s 24-year-old point guard, Raul Neto, play the second half, which almost brought the team to victory.

Lithuania’s inside game, which had been so dominant in the first half, suddenly sputtered, while Phoenix’s Leandro Barbosa (21 points) and Neto (14) heated up.

Within the final two minutes, Brazil rolled off 12 unanswered points to chop the deficit down to four, but Lithuania managed to halt the rally just in time.

Lithuania shot 72.4 percent in the first half to cement its commanding lead, but Brazil outscored the visitors 47-24 over the final 20 minutes.

Despite Huertas sitting the majority of the game, he did get the ninth-ranked Brazilians off to a nice start.

The Sao Paulo native assisted Barbosa on the game’s first basket, then scored for himself on the next possession. He handed out another assist minutes later and added a layup shortly after. However, he and his team went cold from there, with the Lithuanians ending the quarter on a 15-5 run.

Brazil continues pool play on Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. PT when it hosts Spain, which has won the last two Olympic silver medals. It will be the first meeting between Huertas and Jose Calderon since the latter was traded to the Lakers last month.

Meanwhile, Lithuania — which was led by Mantas Kalnietis (16 points, eight assists) and Paulius Jankunas (15 points, seven rebounds) — will face Nigeria at 3 p.m. later that day.

Spain Falls As Calderon Sits
Calderon did not play as Spain was upset by Croatia in its opener, 72-70. Calderon never came off the bench, while Ricky Rubio (zero points, one assist) and Sergio Llull (nine points, three assists) combined to shoot 2-for-9 as Spain's primary point guards.

Pau Gasol led all players with 26 points (11-of-17) and nine rebounds, but Croatia was able to come back for the victory behind 23 points from Bojan Bogdanovic. The Croatians stole the lead on a 5-0 run with 1:26 left in the game. Gasol had a good look at sending it to overtime with a jump hook, but Dario Saric rose up and swatted the shot away just before time expired.