Russell Westbrook (right) and Team USA aim to have Argentina searching for answers again. (Getty Images)

The last time the U.S. men's national basketball team faced Argentina, there were two quarters of tight collars (thanks to porous U.S. defense and near-perfect execution by Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and company) followed by one quarter of utter annihilation (sparked by the sheer dominance of Kevin Durant), a few moments of chippy bitterness (thanks to Argentinian point guard Facundo Campazzo's blatant low blow on Carmelo Anthony) and, ultimately, a 29-point rout.

But that was group play, before the live ammunition really started flying at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Did Argentina's cagey, decorated "Golden Generation," which defeated Brazil in its first knockout-round game on Wednesday, keep enough powder dry to be able to hang with the U.S. for two halves of basketball this time? Or will Team USA — which allowed a tough Australian team to hang around for the better part of three quarters before activating the Black Mamba on Wednesday — again marry its superior offensive firepower with 40 minutes of strong national defense, erasing memories of Argentina's 59-point first half on Monday with pipe-bursting ball pressure and another aerial assault from long range?

Only one way to find out, y'all.

Join us back here at 3:45 p.m. Eastern time for a joint BDL-FPM live chat of the semifinal matchup between Team USA and Argentina, with a trip to Sunday's gold medal game hanging in the balance. (Just a reminder: We won't be able to get to every question or comment, though we'll try our best, and please remember to keep things PG-13 and civil. Much obliged.)

Take the jump to chat:

Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo receives deserved attention for his creativity and craftiness on offense. Whereas most point guards without quality jumpers struggle when defenders play off them, Rondo uses that strategy to his advantage and creates passing and driving lanes where they didn't seem to exist. It's an intelligent and very different way to look at the sport, one that marks Rondo as a unique talent.

He's so different, though, that sometimes we overlook how his elite athleticism allows him to play as well as he does. Thankfully, the video above serves as a simple illustration of Rondo's amazing natural gifts. During a recent training session, Rondo took a one-step leap on top of a very, very high plyometric box that seems to come up to his shoulders. It's a ridiculous feat, to say the least.

As a comparison, consider how high you could get in a similar exercise. My personal estimate is about one foot, which might be a little optimistic.

Video via SLAM

Bob Cousy does 'The Dougie' as Tom Heinsohn looks on disapprovingly (Getty Images)

Via the must-follow Twitter feed from Curtis Harris, @ProHoopsHistory, we've come to find out that Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Cousy turned 84 years young on Thursday. To help celebrate, click the jump for a mix of his many highlights.

Jimmer Fredette wonders who's minding the store, as Steve Buscemi looks on (Getty Images)

Considering that we're in the midst of, while all full of cheer, leaning on veteran players to turn their careers around in their late 20s or early 30s, writing off a 23-year-old like Sacramento Kings guard Jimmer Fredette seems like a pointless maneuver. So we won't do that. What we will do is worry, coming off a season that saw the shooter shoot pretty poorly, and relay that currently the business of being all about Jimmer Fredette is finally more about basketball than it is about business as he heads into his second season with Sacto.

That's the news out of Lehi, Utah; where the Kings guard recently held a basketball camp for kids. Unlike Dwight Howard, Fredette showed up for his. It was in contrast to last year's camp, to hear Jason Franchuk of the Daily Herald tell it, where Jimmer pulled a mini-Dwight Howard around camp time as his obligations stacked upon themselves. From the Herald:

Then, in 2011, there were about 650 campers over five days at the same location. Fredette didn't stick around the entire time, which created some consternation from folks who spent hard-earned cash to get their kids some interaction time with Fredette.

Leandro Barbosa takes a healthy lead off of 1st base (Getty Images)

The NBA's flashiest and finest are mostly off representing their country in the 2012 Olympics, but for a goodly chunk of the league's 400-plus players, the rash of "back to school!" ads that they're fast-forwarding through on TV is serving as a reminder that training camp isn't that far away. Autumn beckons, they might have to shave soon, and they definitely have to get back into NBA shape.

For whatever reason, several of the league's more entertaining players have fallen off in recent years. Be it due to injury, confidence issues, rotation frustrations, a poor fit, or general ennui in a profession that can get tiresome, these players have disappointed of late. For the next two weeks, we're going to take a look at a list of familiar names that haven't produced familiar games over the last few years. Or, at least players that have produced games that we don't want to be in the habit of familiarizing ourselves with.

To start, we're looking at Leandro Barbosa.

Terry Stotts, mid-press conference, can't get Memphis off his mind (Getty Images)

Terry Stotts was introduced as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, and to most of the local media he'll be viewed as that most-unfortunate of NBA lifers. The retread. The respected mind without the respected record, borderline uninspiring, someone that you know has passed through town before while coaching other squads (in Terry's case, Milwaukee and Atlanta), but little beyond that.

Head coaches who have bounced around with a poor record can build up a long list of frustrations along the way. They know that it could be a significant injury, a bum draft pick, a nasty division or any combination of outside factors that led to their demise in the other cities, so the regrets might number in the dozens. The great Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge, in talking to Stotts on Tuesday, found out that Terry's top regret as a coach is pretty strangely specific; though not surprising for a hoops junkie like Stotts. Here's his story:

I asked that softball, obvious question on Wednesday and Stotts replied without missing a beat.

"In a game against Memphis, I wish we had purposefully missed a free throw," he said while seated at a Rose Garden media room table, surrounded by a handful of reporters.

Kobe Bryant enjoys the crowd's cheers, ignores Kevin Durant (Christian Petersen/ Getty).

At 33 years old with 16 NBA seasons under his belt, Kobe Bryant is the elder statesman of the Team USA men's basketball team. It's a position that commands great respect, and not just because Bryant has accomplished more during his career than all but a few players in the history of the sport. In basic terms, Bryant has seen and absorbed more from the sport than anyone else. He knows things that others don't.

Bryant embraces that fact, though he might be going a little overboard with it. In fact, he says there's nothing he can learn from his Team USA teammates right now. From Jeff Zillgitt for USA Today (via Michael Katz):

Certain players around the NBA have not entirely undeserved reputations as bad apples. For many years, Memphis Grizzlies Zach Randolph was one of those guys, based on several gun-related charges and various examples of a lack of maturity while playing for teams that included the Portland Trail Blazers and New York Knicks.

In recent years, though, Z-Bo's stellar play for the Grizzlies has burnished his reputation into something a little more attractive to the casual fan. Randolph hasn't been a model citizen in that time — an arrest for an alleged role as a massive marijuana supplier and a party gone very wrong have been in the news — but there's at least an acknowledgment that he's not all bad all the time.

Within the last month, Z-Bo has shown his best side while taking care of a rescued pit bull in Memphis. The official NBA YouTube page produced a video (available above), and Scott Carroll of The Memphis Commercial Appeal has more details: