The USA men's basketball team has advanced to its third-straight Olympic Games gold-medal game, beating Spain 82-76 on Friday (19 August).

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Klay Thompson scored 22 points for the Americans, who will play Australia or Serbia on Sunday for their third-consecutive Olympic title. USA were just good enough again against Spain, winning a much different game than the all-offense matchups that decided the last two gold-medal games.

Pau Gasol and DeAndre Jordan (Photo: Getty Images/Christian Petersen)

This one featured several technical fouls and neither team got into an offensive flow. It was the lowest-scoring game for USA in the Olympics since the 2004 semi-finals, when they managed 81 in a loss to Argentina.

Kevin Durant added 14 points and Kyrie Irving had 13 for USA. Pau Gasol scored 23 points for Spain, which made it tough on the US for the third straight Olympics, but again had to settle for coming close against the world's No.1 team.

In the other semi-final, Milos Teodosic scored 22 points as Serbia, who pushed the star-studded USA team to the final seconds before losing earlier in Games, moved into the Olympic gold-medal game against the USA with a shockingly easy 87-61 semi-final win over Australia.

Stefan Markovic scored 14 and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets had 11 rebounds for the Serbs, who will get another crack at Team USA on Sunday (21 August).  Serbia's win guaranteed them their first Olympic medal in men's basketball since gaining independence in 2006.

The Aussies, too, were hoping to play the USA again, but they scored just five points in the first quarter and will have to beat Spain for a chance at winning their first bronze medal. 

With five NBA players, Australia brought its most talented team ever to Brazil. But the Boomers couldn not overcome their horrendous start.

Who are the main players for Team USA?

NBA stars such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook all chose to skip this year’s Olympics, but the USA basketball team still has plenty of firepower on the court.

Durant is the biggest name on the squad, but Carmelo Anthony is actually playing some his best basketball early in the tournament. Anthony is second on the team with 13.8 points per game and has hit 12-of-22 shots from beyond the arc. He led the Americans to a 98-88 win over Australia on Wednesday August 11, scoring a team-high 31 points.

Anthony also became the all-time leader in points scored for the USA in the game, passing LeBron James for the top spot. The team also features Curry’s Golden State team-mates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and big men DeAndre Jordan and DeMarcus Cousins.

Basketball schedule and results - Rio 2016

Can Team USA be beaten?

The short answer here is no. But the longer answer is maybe. Team USA struggled to put away a testy Australian side and, like any other team in the competition, are prone to have a bad game. It would take the right set of circumstances for USA to walk off the floor as losers. 

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