Spurs stars separate as France tops Argentina •FRANCE 71, ARGENTINA 64: They've been teammates for so long that they're basketball brothers, family. They've won countless games and three NBA titles together.
But Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were out of place Tuesday night -- on opposite teams in the Olympics.
The separated San Antonio Spurs.
"Very strange," Ginobili said. "The first time ever after playing probably like a thousand games together. Wishing him to miss a shot is kind of something new."
Parker scored 17 points and fed a lob pass over Ginobili for a key basket in the final two minutes to help France stun Argentina 71-64 in a preliminary round tournament game featuring 10 NBA players.
Parker, wearing goggles to protect a left eye seriously injured in a New York nightclub brawl in June, got the best of his close friend Ginobili in the first game between the two All-Stars.
"It was special," said Parker. "Manu is one of my best friends. We've been playing together for a long time and it was kind of weird to be playing against him."
Parker made two free throws to put the game away for France, which was rocked by 27 points on Sunday by the Americans.
•BRAZIL 67, BRITAIN 62: Tiago Splitter scored 21 points to help Brazil escape with an unexpectedly close 67-62 win over host Britain in the Olympic men's basketball tournament on Tuesday. Britain came close to winning its first Olympic game since 1948 but Splitter, who plays with the San Antonio Spurs, hit a key layup off a pinpoint pass in traffic from Marcelinho Huertas to make it 65-59. Luol Deng, who plays with the Chicago Bulls, missed his first six shots and had 12 points on 3-for-13 shooting.
