Outlasting Spain and shutting down Ricky Rubio, United States moves into gold medal game

Rio de Janeiro – After a horrific performance on Friday, Ricky Rubio can take solace in knowing he won't have to face a Tom Thibodeau defense again as long as he plays for the Timberwolves.

The United States beat Spain 82-76 in the semifinals of the Olympic basketball tournament and will face Serbia, an 87-61 winner over Australia, on Sunday for the gold medal.

Rubio started at point guard for Spain, drew two fouls in the first quarter and finished with zero points, one assist and one steal in 13-plus minutes. His plus-minus rating was minus-11.

Thibodeau, the Timberwolves' new head coach, is working as an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski. While he won't say he's in charge of the defense, Thibodeau is considered a defensive mastermind, and his voice can be heard all over the arena when he calls out defensive assignments.

He was diplomatic when asked about Rubio's performance. "I thought he was very aggressive to start the game," Thibodeau said. "I thought his ball pressure was a huge factor.

"All games are called a little bit differently. They called it tight. But I thought he came back in the second half and did some things. He's creating easy shots for everybody. He's putting a lot of pressure on you because of the ability to break you down and get into the paint and find open men."

For the Americans, DeAndre Jordan had 16 rebounds and Klay Thompson, a great shooter in the NBA who has been relatively quiet in the Olympics, made four of eight three pointers to help hold off a pesky team.

"We've been together two months and I feel like I've played with these guys my whole life," Jordan said. "You watch the Olympics as a kid and say, 'I want to go to a game.' Now I'm playing in the games. It's an honor."

The U.S. struggled for three games before increasing its defensive intensity late in the first period in the quarterfinals against Argentina. The Americans held Spain to 28-for-72 shooting (39 percent).

"Defensively I thought we were very good," Thibodeau said. "We attacked. I thought we made some hustle plays and that's what got us going."

The game was choppy throughout. Both teams played with intensity from the beginning and the officiating crew issued a series of technical fouls that slowed the game in the first quarter.

"We never let them go and play easy," Spain coach Sergio Scarlioni said. "When you talk about a team that has so much bigger potential than yours, you have to be happy with what you did to reduce the gap."

The U.S. moved Jordan into the starting lineup against Argentina and started him again against Spain, moving DeMarcus Cousins to the bench. Jordan is the better defender; Cousins is a more skilled offensive player but has been plagued with foul trouble in the Olympics.

"It's worked well for both units," Thibodeau said. "A little more offense with the second unit and a great defensive presence with the starters. The last two games I think we've played a lot better."

The U.S. continually opened double-digit leads only to see Spain narrow the gap, remaining in striking distance until the last few minutes.

The U.S. won its past two gold medals by beating Spain in the final. "We knew when we started training camp there was a great chance we were going to play Spain at some point," Krzyzewski said. "We've had great games against Spain, and we expected the same today and we got it.''