USA Men in Hoops Gold Medal Game vs Spain after beating Argentina 109-83

LONDON—Kobe Bryant took over the first quarter, Kevin Durant handled the third, Carmelo Anthony made his mark in the fourth and LeBron James displayed his dominance throughout.Any doubt why the U.S. men’s basketball team destroyed Argentina 109-83 in a Friday night semifinal at North Greenwich Arena? It’s called scoring depth.The U.S. advances to Sunday’s gold-medal game against Spain in a rematch of the final won by the U.S. at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Spain downed Russia in the first semifinal.Durant led the way with 19 points. Anthony and James each scored 18 and Bryant had 13 points.Bryant, who sank six 3-pointers in the second half of Team USA’s quarterfinal victory over Australia, made another to open his team’s scoring. He later powered home a reverse lay-in over former Bull Andres Nocioni and sank two more 3-pointers as the U.S. jumped to an 18-6 lead.But Argentina closed to within five by quarter’s end despite Nocioni and Luis Scola each leaving with two fouls. Carlos Delfino sank four 3-pointers to keep Argentina hanging around, and Manu Ginobili swished a 3-pointer from in front of the U.S. bench to beat the halftime buzzer and trim the deficit to seven.Just like in their Monday meeting to close pool play, Durant took over the third. He sank four 3-pointers as the U.S. started pulling away. For good measure, Anthony made three straight 3-pointers in the fourth.There were no physical incidents marring play. On Monday, Facundo Campazzo punched Carmelo Anthony in the groin and refused to apologize afterward. However, U.S. guard Russell Westbrook reportedly suffered a mild ankle sprain, and his availability for Sunday’s game is uncertain.This marked the third straight Olympic semifinal these teams staged, with Argentina winning en route to the gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the U.S. winning in 2008.