INQUIRER Sports

BEIJING -- Argentina's hopes of defending the Olympic men's basketball crown took a blow Sunday with a loss to Lithuania while favorite Spain and the United States each captured decisive victories.

Lithuania stunned an Argentine squad featuring five National Basketball Association players 79-75 while the US team of NBA stars beat China 101-70 and world champion Spain routed Greece 81-66 in a rematch of the 2006 world final.

Lithuania's Linas Kleiza of the NBA Denver Nuggets sank a three-pointer with just over two seconds remaining after Argentina's Manu Ginobili, who scored a game-high 19 points, sparked an 11-0 run to level the game at 75-75.

"Every time you lose, you feel bad," Ginobili said. "I thought we could have won it. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. They came back. They hit a great shot. Give them credit."

Argentina's Group A defeat put more pressure on Tuesday's game against Australia, a 97-82 loser to Croatia in their opener, as the 2004 winners try to avoid a low preliminary round finish and a tougher path to a title repeat.

"It's going to be very difficult," said Ginobili, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.

"If you consider this loss, it's not that important. But it's emotionally important. It puts a lot of pressure on you in the next game and the following one. So we're going to have to play great and really step up."

Kleiza's 13 points led a balanced Lithuanian attack with five players in double figures, including 12 for Robertas Javtokas, and his final shot rescued Lithuania after the team squandered a 75-64 lead.

"The shot felt good," Kleiza said. "It was great we won the game. We really feel good about that. But there is still a long way to go."

The US romped as expected, although China kept the game tight until late in the first half.

"We can't get too rattled in the beginning with good streaks," US forward Chris Bosh said. "If we get worried it won't help us. We have to keep that in mind from here on out."

Dwyane Wade scored 19 points, LeBron James added 18 and Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard each added 13 for the Americans while Chinese star center Yao Ming had 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

"This is a personal Olympics for me," Yao said. "Everyone is proud. It felt great, all the flags and people cheering. It was a great game, great atmosphere."

Spain's Group B triumph saw Rudy Fernandez score 16 points with fellow NBA standout Jose Calderon adding 13 and Pau Gasol, the Los Angeles Lakers star center, scoring 11 points.

"It was tough in the beginning but we managed to improve and get the win," Gasol said. "We played very good defense and forced them to lose many balls. That was the key to our victory. It will help give us confidence."

Greece stayed close in the first-half but Spain pulled away in the second-half as the Greeks hit only 24-of-54 from the field.

"It was a great game, a very important game for us," Fernandez said. "It was our defense and the running game. Those were the keys to the win."

Vasileios Spanoulis led Greece with 15 points while Dimitiros Diamantdis added 14. Greek coach Panagiotis Giannakis was unhappy about making only 11-of-24 free throws and losing 15 turnovers.

"From the first minute, we looked nervous," he said. "We missed a lot of free-throws and we made some easy mistakes. That made it easy for Spain to control the game. We're going to try the next game not to give that present."

Chris Kaman of the Los Angeles Clippers scored 24 points and Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki added 23 as Germany beat Angola 95-66 in Group B.

"We moved the ball well and defended well together," Nowitzki said. "Hopefully we can build on this."

Former American J.R. Holden scored a game-high 19 points to lead Russia past Iran 71-49 in a Group A encounter.

"It was a good start. We had a little pressure on us but overall it went pretty well," Holden said.