Men's Basketball Day 2 Review: Spain spreads China thin in overtime

Spain takes China in overtime， where Yao Ming fouled out （Photo credit： Getty Images）Photo Gallery%26gt；%26gt；

（BEIJING， August 13） -- 2007 EuroBasket silver medal Spain got an overtime win， but European champion Russia did not fare as well， on day two of the Olympic Men's Basketball tournament on Tuesday， August 12.

Spain came back from trailing 14-points to force a tired China into overtime， where Yao Ming fouled out and Spain easily took the victory 85-75. The Chinese team is now 0-2， while reigning world champion Spain is even only with the United States with a 2-0 record in group B.

Spanish guard Ricky Rubio admits his team could have played better. "We started a little bit relaxed， thinking that China wasn't a good opponent for us，" he said. "We are the world champions but anyone can beat us."

China's Forward Li Nan ventured to guess why his team lost in overtime after such a promising second-half lead. "First， it's because of the decreasing physical strength，" Nan said. "Second， at the last moment， we doubted ourselves and hesitated on offense." He also noted that Yao's ankle wasn't completely 100 percent in time for Olympic competition.

While Spain won today， 2007 EuroBasket gold medal Russia was forced to split its record 1-1， as World No. 20 Croatia took its second consecutive game. Russia was leading in most of the first half， but Croatia closed the second quarter 42-36 and ran away with the score from there to an 85-78 final.

Now Croatia and Lithuania stand atop group A with 2-0 records.

Lithuania's game fell more to the category of "blowout." Lithuania beat Iran 99-67 in an even bigger routing than the United States vs. Angola game， which ended 97-76. Coming off a late win against Argentina， Lithuania was behind for the beginning of the match until point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius took over. His basket from in the paint ignited an 18-0 onslaught that carried Lithuania through the game. The 22-point high scorer of that match was Linas Kleiza， but Iran's center Hamed Ehadadi was on his heels with 21 points and nine rebounds.

That the United States took Angola was no surprise， but Angola was particularly handicapped by the absence of their star forward Olimpio Cipriano， who was still suffering from a shoulder injury sustained in his tournament opener against Germany. Angola's Carlos Morais led the game in scoring for 24 points， and the top rebounder was teammate Joaquim Gomes. Dwayne Wade led Team USA with 19 points.

With a strong defense that was able to contain the likes of Chris Kaman， the Greek team powered through an 87-64 pounding of Germany. Greece's Vasileios Spanoulis had a game-high 23 points， while Dirk Nowitzki topped the German team with 13 points and six rebounds.

Finally， defending gold medal Argentina got their first tournament win， defeating Australia 85-68. Argentina went to the final quarter 63-46， but the Boomers staged a terrific comeback to make it 74-64 on a 10-0 run. Manu Ginobili led the winning team with 21 points， while Australia's guard Patrick Mills scored a game-high 22.