Argentina to clash with Brazil in Vegas

BUENOS AIRES (2016 Rio Olympics) - Argentina and Brazil are going to have another showdown at this summer's Rio de Janeiro Games as combatants in the Group Phase. They will meet in Group B, a clash that promises to add a new and interesting chapter to one of international basketball's great rivalries.

The two teams will not have to wait until the Olympics, it turns out, to trade blows in 2016. Argentina and another Group B side, Nigeria, have agreed to cancel one of their two warm-up games for Rio, which was scheduled for 19 July at the Cox Pavilion, so that Brazil can take on their South American adversaries.

Nigeria, the winners of last year's AfroBasket, will still have their game against Argentina on 18 July at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Brazil and Argentina have squared off in some classic encounters over the years. One of the battles that people still talk about happened in 2010 at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Turkey, a Round of 16 game in which Luis Scola had one of his best games in the Argentina shirt.

Luis Scola (ARG) had 17 points in Argentina's 82-77 win over Brazil at the 2012 Olympics in London, England

The power forward finished with 37 points and 9 rebounds as Argentina scraped a 93-89 victory. The two teams met in the Quarter-Finals of the Olympics two years later and Argentina won once again, 82-77.

In the Round of 16 at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Brazil gained a measure of revenge. They pulled away from Argentina in the fourth quarter and won, 85-65. The man that tore Argentina to shreds that day was point guard Raulzinho Neto.

Argentina, meanwhile, will end their trip to Nevada with a game against the United States, a team in Group A at the Olympics, on 22 July at the T-Mobile Arena.

FIBA