Argentina loses in men's hoops opener

Print | Comments () Posted by Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff August 10, 2008 07:01 AM

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BEIJING -- Argentina's men's basketball team, the 2004 Olympic gold medalists, lost its Olympic opener 79-75 to Lithuania on Sunday night at the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium. Forward Linas Kleiza, who also plays for the Denver Nuggets, sealed the victory for Lithuania with 2 seconds left to seal the huge victory. Argentina star guard Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs missed an off-balanced 3-pointer at the buzzer in the Group A opener loss.

"If you consider this loss, it's not that important," said Ginobili, who had a game-high 19 points. "But emotionally it is important. It puts a lot of pressure to you on the next game and the following one. We're going to have to get through it and we have to step up. We played an OK game. We have to play a great game now."