It's starting to feel like an NBA playoff series to members of the USA Basketball senior national team.

It's a series they lead 4-0, but one in which tonight's fifth game is all that matters now.

The U.S. team plays host Puerto Rico for the fifth time in 16 days in the semifinals of the FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The fact the U.S. team easily has won all four previous games isn't unanimously accepted as a good thing, however, as they continue their mission to rinse off the stink of last summer's sixth-place finish in the World Basketball Championship in Indianapolis.

"It gets scarier, knowing they know your tendencies," Seattle guard Ray Allen said after the U.S. team's 91-65 victory over Puerto Rico on Thursday in the final second-round game.

"You can't let down, thinking you're going to run away from them. It's not guaranteed. We have to go out and play another game."

And then another, when the tournament concludes on Sunday. Four teams have advanced to the medal rounds, with the top three finishers earning a spot in next summer's Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Canada (5-3) and Argentina (5-3) meet in the first semifinal tonight, followed by the U.S. (8-0)-Puerto Rico (5-3) game. The winners play for the gold medal Sunday while the losers meet for the bronze medal and the final Olympic berth.