Short-handed Argentina still too much for Puerto Ricans

For a while Friday, Puerto Rico appeared to be on its way to pulling the biggest upset of the FIBA Americas Championship, as it led Argentina by 14 points early in the second quarter.

With Carlos Arroyo and Elias Ayuso hitting from 3-point range and 7-foot-3-inch Peter John Ramos clogging the middle defensively, Puerto Rico was in control.

The Argentines might be short-handed, but they never seem to panic. Sure enough, they pieced together a couple of runs, shut down Arroyo and Ayuso, saw Ramos foul out and ran away with an 87-75 win at the Thomas & Mack Center.

There's no Manu Ginobli, no Andres Nocioni, no Fabricio Oberto, no Walter Hermann. Yet little changes for Argentina. It still runs an efficient and deadly accurate offense, and the team defensive principles that coach Sergio Hernandez preaches are followed to the letter.

Which is why it would be foolish to count these guys out next week when the real battle begins for the two spots in next summer's Olympics. The winners of the Sept. 1 semifinals will punch their ticket to Beijing, and Argentina, the defending Olympic champion, expects to be one of those teams.

"Our goal is to be in the first two spots in this tournament because we certainly want to qualify," Hernandez said of his team, which is 2-0 in Group A and faces Mexico at 8 tonight. "We are working hard, but we know we still have to face a lot of good teams in this championship."

Ginobli and Nocioni are recovering from injuries. Oberto and Hermann elected not to play this summer for personal reasons. Hernandez said to spend time dwelling on those players who are not in Las Vegas would be counterproductive.

"When we knew they would not play, we decided not to think anymore about them and concentrate on those who would play," Hernandez said. "We just want one thing, and that is to play together."

Carlos Delfino and Luis Scola, the two NBA players on this Argentina roster, said they are not feeling an added burden to carry the team.

"No, not at all," said Scola, a Houston Rockets forward who led all scorers Friday with 22 points. "We play as a team, not as individuals."

Delfino, a guard with the Toronto Raptors, said the team's mind-set is to have everyone share the load.

"We have different people capable of stepping up," said Delfino, who scored 15 points Friday. "But it is a new group, and we're trying to understand what we can expect from each other on the court. But we're starting to develop that."