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Sports

Argentina Vs. Tunisia, Olympics 2012: Where Manu Ginobili Is Amazing

By SBNation
Published | Updated

Tunisia looked like it might pull off a huge upset on Thursday morning when it matched up with Argentina as pool play continued at the 2012 London Olympics, even leading 28-14 after the first quarter. It wasn't long after that, however, that Manu Ginobili did what very few others are able to do on the international basketball stage en route to a 92-69 victory for the Argentineans.

Ginobili opened the second quarter strong, scoring 12 in the second half as the South Americans went on an impressive 15-0 run to swing the momentum back in their favor. Before it was all over, the amazing Argentinian scored 24 points and grabbed six rebounds ... and he did it every which way possible.

The Argentinean showed no aging as he scored in a variety of ways: sometimes he was set up by fellow NBAer Luis Scola for the spot-up three-pointer, he occasionally kept his defender off balance while creating his owns shot from behind the arc (he'd finish 4-of-4 from deep) and then, on one particularly fun possession, Ginobili used his first quick step, fancy fake-passing abilities and general veteran-savvy to score right through three Tunisian defenders:

Ginobili wasn't the only outstanding Argentinean on Thursday, though, as Scola chipped in a solid double-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists while Carlos Delfino stepped up to score 21 points in the absence of anything from Andres Nocioni (0-for-6 from the field) and Pablo Prigioni (renal colic).

Tunisia's inside-out attack worked well early as Mourad El Mabrouk hit five of his 10 3-point attempts while Utah Jazz Summer League sensation Salah Mejri put in impressive work on his way to 19 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks, but the team was just too outmatched to keep up with Argentina's NBA players.

Pool play will continue for both teams on Saturday when Tunisia plays France in the day's opening game while Argentina's drawn the nightcap against Nigeria.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics hub.