Ah the Olympics, a chance to celebrate basketball, and a bunch of other sports too.

Nigeria vs Tunisia (aka Men’s Archery)

The best question on Saturday came in an Archery post-game interview. “So tell me, how tired are you guys of being asked about the Hunger games?” Archery remains the most underrated sport in the Olympics, with surprisingly dramatic matches. Something about how players alternate between ringed 8’s, ringed 9’s, and bulls-eye 10’s makes for matches with dramatic lead changes. The US men’s upset victory over a heavily favored Korean team on Saturday featured four lead changes and was an instant classic.

Nigeria vs Tunisia wasn’t quite an instant classic. The game started at 4:15am ET, and it certainly felt like the teams were sleep-walking. The 4^th quarter score looked more like a slow-paced Big Ten game than an Olympic Basketball showcase. But maybe college basketball is the correct metaphor here. From the start, Nigeria came out and played Rick Majerus caliber defense. The players were fighting through screens with a relentless energy I hadn’t seen in any of the pre-Olympic exhibition games.

And that defensive energy had staggering results. With nearly three minutes left in the first half, Tunisia was shooting 20%, had turned the ball over 11 times, and had scored just 10 points. It wasn’t just poor play by Tunisia. Nigeria denied Tunisia clean looks at the basket and forced multiple shot-clock violations. Nigeria was defending the basket with such rigor, that even when Tunisia seemed to have a clean lay-up, a Nigerian player would block the ball from behind.

When Tony Skinn, the Nigerian point guard who played for George Mason during their Final Four run in 2006, drove the basket for a bucket and one to make it 27-10, it seemed likely that Nigeria had clinched a win.

But now the Archery analogy returns. In the gold medal archery match, the US men’s archery team got off to a terrible start. A series of 8’s by the US and 10’s by Italy put the US team far behind. But late in the match, the US made a series of bulls-eye 10’s and put the pressure squarely on Italy. The Italians needed a bulls-eye 10 on the final shot to clinch the gold medal. They did just that.

Meanwhile, Tunisia made Nigeria sweat in this one thanks to a host of three point shots (the late bulls-eye 10’s). Nigeria’s own offensive ineptitude also contributed to Tunisia’s comeback. It was probably best symbolized by the end of the game when Al-Farouq Aminu had the ball on a breakaway for a game-clinching dunk, only to drop it and watch the ball roll out of bounds. But Nigeria made just enough free throws, and Al-Farouq Aminu hit a critical three pointer late (the bulls-eye 10), and Nigeria held on.

By now, you are probably wondering why I’m writing nearly 400 words on a game almost no one in the US cares about. After all, Tunisia doesn’t have an NBA player on their roster, and Nigeria will be nothing but a heavy underdog from here on out.

The answer is that Nigeria represents the only chance for real drama in Group A. If you believe the FIBA world rankings, the four teams that will advance out of Group A are more than obvious:

But if Nigeria can upset one of the teams ahead of them, get to 2-3 in the group, and hold the head-to-head tie-breaker against that team, Nigeria has a legitimate shot at the knockout round. And whenever you play high energy defense, you have a shot.

Brazil vs Australia (Women’s Beach Volleyball)

By the way, on paper the four teams that will advance out of Group B are far less clear. This is especially true when you factor in the home court advantage for Great Britain.

On Saturday night, Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh were locked into an epic beach volleyball game. Normally volleyball players hit the ball three times before sending it over the net. But late in the match, the US team used a soft-spike to send the ball across on the second hit. A point later, the US team returned the ball on the first hit. The unexpected early returns caught their opponent’s off-guard, and snuck in a couple of key points in a close victory. I don’t watch enough beach volleyball to know if these premature returns are common, but it certainly seemed like crafty veteran strategy.

Similarly, with Australia trailing by four points late against Brazil, they also needed a couple of crafty maneuvers to get back in the game. First, an Australian player jumped in front of Leonardo Barbosa at halfcourt and drew a charge. Drawing a charge at mid-court is one of those plays that almost never works. The University of Illinois used to have a player named Lucas Johnson who was notorious for drawing contact at mid-court. He would wait until the player taking the ball up court looked to the sideline and then jump in his path. But at the NBA level, 99 times out of 100, the ref is going to blame the defender more than the offensive player for creating that mid-court contact. In this case, Barbosa was more out of control than usual, and Australia picked the perfect time to force the contact.

Still down four points, but now with possession of the ball, Australia used a beautiful screen under the basket to get a wide-open lay-up. Post screens (particularly to get lay-ups for guards) are a staple of the flex offense used by Bo Ryan of Wisconsin. But even teams that don’t run a flex offense seem to be incorporating them more and more as a set play. Australia picked the perfect time to call for that flex set.

Unfortunately for the Australians, all that crafty execution was spoiled by clock mismanagement on the other end. With a 5 second differential between the shot-clock and game clock. Australia elected not to foul. Then Australia was called for a kicked ball which reset the shot clock with 9 seconds left. Down 2 with 9 seconds left, Australia’s Patrick Mills dove for the steal on the inbound. He almost got the ball, but Brazil’s Marcelinho Huertas tracked it down and the steal attempt took precious seconds off the clock. Huertas knocked down a pair of free throws to bring the lead to 4 and Australia didn’t have enough time to complete the comeback.

US vs France (Men’s Swimming 400 IM)

Ryan Lochte should probably be the swimming favorite in these Olympics. After all, he has dominated the sport for the last year. But on paper, the 400 IM still had Michael Phelps in the field and a host of other talented swimmers who could knock him off. On paper, it was a compelling match-up. But while the 400 IM was close for the first quarter of the race, by the fourth and final freestyle leg, it was a forgone conclusion that Lochte would win.

The same thing happened in the USA win over France. With Boris Diaw, Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Ronnie Turiaf, and a number of NBA players on the roster, France seemed like they should give the USA a good game. And for one quarter they did.

But once the threes started raining at the start of the second quarter (LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love) – it was over. By the time the fourth quarter started the only question was whether Anthony Davis would make or miss more dunks around the basket. (By my count he had one make and one miss.) We will have to wait until next Saturday for the US to get a real test.

Spain vs China (Men’s Gymnastics Qualification)

The opening day coverage of the men’s gymnastics competition was filled with a Chinese replacement player falling three times, a Japanese favorite falling twice, and two US falls as well.(Apparently NBC took great joy in showing the lowlights. But in most cases, since the scores reset in the next round, it doesn’t matter much.

And for me, this game fell in that category. On the one hand, it was fun to watch the first game of the Olympics where defensive play was optional. On the other hand, these teams clearly weren’t playing medal-caliber basketball.

First, while Spain won, they let Yi Jianlian run wild in this game. Spain refused to fight through screens on pick and rolls, and Marc Gasol showed little interest in coming out of the post to defend outside shooters. And by the end of the game Yi had himself the kind of Olympic performance that should have quite a few NBA general managers giving him a call. Yi scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and did plenty to showcase his offensive talent.

But despite his near 7 foot frame, Yi remains incapable of guarding opposing big players one-on-one in the paint. He needed significant help to keep the front line of Spain from dominating, and China’s defensive weakness in the paint allowed Spain to score 97 points in the game. First, the need to deny post touches caused China to foul excessively and left Spain on a never-ending run to the free throw line. And then, when China played zone to try to avoid foul trouble, Spain simply scorched the Chinese team from the three point line.

(By the way, the only time the zone defense seemed to work was when Spain’s backup point guard Victor Sada was in the game. Sada seemed reluctant to shoot from three, and his 30% three point shooting for Regal Barcelona last year suggests that might not be a fluke. Already, I can sense Spain missing Ricky Rubio on the court.)

But if Spain wasn’t perfect, they still won easily. I’m more concerned about China’s big defensive fall. In a lot of ways, China is exactly the team Jerry Colangelo wanted to avoid when he put the US team together. Colangelo said his goal was to avoid tall players who weren’t quick enough to win on the international stage. China’s lineup has formidable height across the lineup. They might have a higher average height than any of their opponents. But they don’t have the strength to defend the paint or the quickness to keep opposing guards in front of them. The outside shooting will keep China in some games. But I wouldn’t be surprised if defense keeps them out of the knockout round again.

Russia vs Great Britain (Women’s Table Tennis)

Ariel Hsing, a 16-year-old US Table Tennis player, was ranked 115^th in the World. On Saturday and Sunday she won two matches, which lined her up to meet her idol, the 2^nd ranked player in the world, Li Xiaoxia. Hsing fought hard and despite tying the match at two sets, and having the match tied late in the 5^th and 6^th set, Hsing ultimately fell to the higher ranked player.

As noted above, Great Britain’s FIBA world ranking shows they don’t have the basketball history to hang with a team like Russia. But for much of the afternoon, this game was close. Only in the final 10 minutes did Russia finally take a 10 point lead to a 20 point cushion. Andre Kirilenko scored 35 points as Russia pulled away late.

I can’t think of any way of selling you that this was a compelling game, so I’ll give you this bit of Table Tennis trivia instead. During the Hsing – Li table tennis match, at one point Li won a point by having the ball bounce off the side of the table. That bit of luck elicited a “sorry” from the 16 year old player. Apparently, in Table Tennis, you take the point if you can get it, but you at least acknowledge the fluke play.

Argentina vs Lithuania (Women’s Skeet Shooting)

US Olympian Kim Rhode hit 99 of 100 targets in skeet shooting, setting a new Olympic record. She was so far ahead of the rest of the field, that heading into the final two shooting locations, she had already clinched a gold medal. Rhode won a medal in her fifth straight Olympic games. When asked the difference between winning a medal 16 years ago and now, she noted that she now has to make car payments and do her own laundry.

Both Argentina and Lithuania are ranked in the Top-5 of the FIBA world rankings, so a close battle was to be expected. Instead, Argentina played a nearly perfect game and won by 20. By forcing nine more turnovers than they committed, and by knocking down 11 threes, Argentina managed to win a game in which they often played a 4-guard lineup. The amazing thing was that Luis Scola and company held their own on the boards for Argentina, despite playing a much bigger Lithuania team.

Much as this was Kim Rhode’s fifth Olympics, Argentina is a veteran international team. Many think the window of opportunity to win a gold medal is coming to a close for this group. With several star Argentina players in their mid-30’s, many believe this is their last great chance. And at least in the opening game of the tournament, they took advantage.

Watching this game, I also decided that basketball needs to invent a new stat. In football, they describe something known as the Krumble. This is the kick-return fumble after allowing a touchdown. Teams that commit Krumbles rarely win. In basketball we need to define something called the SAT. Call it the steal after three pointer. This game was back and forth until Andres Nocioni got a steal after a three pointer. That five point swing built the half-time margin and gave Argentina their first breathing room of the game.

I’d love to say that Manu Ginobili deserves credit for his leadership early in the game. He had a three, an assist, a steal, and a drawn charge call in the first five minutes. And in sports, you lead by your play, not by your words. But Ginobili sat most of the third quarter with foul trouble, and that was when Argentina really put the game away. So I’ll cautiously say this was an all-around team effort.