Friendly fire: Spain stops Argentina in men's basketball warm-up

(BEIJING, July 23) -- Argentina came up short against Spain, losing 90-88 to their Olympic rival in a close warm-up game on July 22 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid, Spain.

Guard Manu Ginobili played almost 21 minutes and scored an impressive 18 points, but missed a key free throw for Argentina.

The mere fact that the San Antonio Spurs star played in the game was enough to comfort Argentina, after concern he would not be able to compete in Beijing because of an ankle injury sustained during the NBA playoffs.

"I played a long time and I am satisfied," Ginobili said, "despite not being physically 100% yet."

Ginobili took Argentina to a gold medal finish at the 2004 Athens Games, and his assessment of this friendly game was that Spain looks like a medal contender this year.

Spain went into the second half up 45-30, but fell to a much narrower lead partly because the team was shooting 12 for 25 behind the arc.

For his part, Spanish point guard Jose Manuel Calderon sunk four of six three-pointers for 18 points overall.

Ginobili was on fire as well, hitting four of five on his threes.

Argentina and Spain are in different groups for the preliminary round of Olympic Men's Basketball play, with Argentina in group A and Spain in group B.

Spain will be the first of these two national teams to tip off in Beijing. Spain is scheduled to play Greece on August 10 at 2:30 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8) in the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium.