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With Anthony buckled over on the floor, players on both benches pointed fingers and jawed at each other.
Campazzo acknowledged hitting Anthony on purpose, and said he did it because Paul had punched him earlier.
Following the game, Kobe Bryant confronted Campazzo.
"It was inappropriate," Bryant said. "I said, 'You don't do that' and he said, 'I know.' He knows he's wrong. That was uncalled for and I let him know. To his credit, he acknowledged it. He said, 'My fault, I know.' And that was it."
Maybe not.
Argentina and the U.S. could meet again in the semifinals. The two hooked up in the 2004 Athens Games with Argentina winning before the Americans atoned four years in Beijing.
"We find a way to play them every single year," Paul said. "It's a rivalry."
Bryant said the 29-point was the U.S. team's way of reminding the Argentineans they'll have to play much better -- or settle for silver or bronze.
"You kind of want to send a message a little bit," said Bryant, who scored just 11 points. "This was the second game in a row that a team has played us close. We didn't want to give them confidence."
Manu Ginobili scored 16 points for Argentina (3-2), which would have won Group A via tiebreaker if it had blown out the U.S.
A crowd featuring former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ex-heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield was treated to an offensive show in the first half with little more defense than the NBA All-Star game. A basket on one end was answered quickly by a shot on the other in what was shaping up as a thriller between the last two Olympic champions.
But the U.S. simply has too much offense, even if the defense could use some tightening up.
They may not need to.
The Americans just might be able to shoot their way to the top.
"In the third quarter, they had three or four 3-pointers," said Argentina's Leonardo Gutierrez, who apparently lost track in the hail U.S. of 3s. "They got one after another, all in a row, and we had a strong offense and gained many points, but that is something very difficult for any team to overcome."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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