With the group stage behind them, the men's basketball tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics moves to the knockout stage on Wednesday as Spain takes on France for their first quarterfinal game at 11 a.m. ET.
Pau and Marc Gasol are the most important players on the court for Spain, and they will need to perform to their usual standards if they're going to help their team pull out a victory.
Through five games the brothers Gasol have been the leading scorers for the Spanish national team-Pau, with a tournament-best 20.6 points per game and his younger brother with 11.8. They've also averaged more rebounds than anyone else on the squad.
Against France, the brothers will need to exceed those averages.
Pau can spread the floor, picking apart the spread-out defense with either passes or skillful post moves. His brother Marc isn't too bad himself with spreading the defense as well, and may actually be the better passer of the two.
For France they will rely on Tony Parker to perform and lead the team to victory.
France's bigs, mainly Ronnie Turiaf and Nicolas Batum, don't have to win their matchups against Spain's bigs, they just have to prevent them from getting too low in the post.
If they can do that France can play to its strengths-namely winning on the wings with Batum continuing to impact the game on both ends as he's been averaging 19.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
With Spain not completely living up to expectations, France may stand a chance to pull out a victory.
