ALLAN THE MAN

LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 (Men's Basketball) – Kobe Bryant scored 20 points to lead the United States over a stubborn Australia squad 119-86 on Wednesday and advance the Americans into a Friday semi-final against Argentina.

Bryant sank three 3-pointers in a row within 31 seconds in the fourth quarter to seal the Boomers’ fate, improving the NBA Dream Team to 14-0 over Australia in global tournaments.

LeBron James added 11 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists while Deron Williams had 18 points and Carmelo Anthony scored 17.

Reigning European champion Spain, which lost to the US NBA squad in the 2008 Beijing final, will face Russia in the other semi-final.

Argentina defeated a set of US NBA stars in the 2004 Olympic semi-finals, ending Dream Team gold domination that began in 1992, but a revamped US squad avenged that loss with a triumph in the 2008 Beijing Olympic semi-finals.

LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 – Kevin Durant scored 28 points and the US NBA Dream Team defeated Argentina 126-97 on Monday to remain undefeated and book an Olympic quarter-final date Wednesday against Australia.

The result completed the entire medal playoff pairings, which will see the Americans face Argentina or Spain in the semi-finals if they defeat the Aussie Boomers, who knocked Russia from the ranks of the unbeaten earlier on Monday.

In the other half of the playoff bracket, reigning European champion Spain will face France in one quarter-final while Russia will meet Lithuania in the other. Semi-finals are on Friday with gold and bronze medal games on Sunday.

The Americans led by only 60-59 at half-time but seized command from the start of the third quarter, which began with LeBron James scoring the first seven US points to ignite a 19-7 run by the US NBA stars.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, likewise, announced on Twitter (@dawende) that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr. announces suspension of work in private offices in NCR, Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal n Bulacan. 

GMA News also reported that the President through Deputy PresidentialSpokesperson Abi Valte (@abi_valte) announced that BPO/Call Center is included insuspension of work.

Here is the List of Suspended Classes for August 7, 2012 , Tuesday. 

LONDON – LeBron James silenced stubborn Lithuania to lift the unbeaten US NBA Dream Team into the Olympic medal playoffs on Saturday while Russia edged Spain to secure a top seeding in next week’s quarter-finals.

James, seeking his second gold medal in his third Olympic appearance, scored nine of his 20 points in a 12-2 US run in the final minutes as the Americans beat Lithuania 99-94, improving to 58-1 since taking Olympic bronze in 2004.

“I feel like it was my time to step up offensively,” James said. “I’ve been doing everything else, which I’m OK with. I’m here to do the little things. I can also score. I’m happy I was able to make a few buckets down the stretch.”

Just as “King James” took command for the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals and won his first league crown, he stepped up to the Olympic spotlight and hoisted a multi-millionaire lineup into the quarter-finals as they try to defend gold.

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will battle it out for Olympic gold on Saturday afternoon. 

Going into the London 2012 Olympics, Serena and Sharapova were the only players in the field who have achieved the legendary career Grand Slam (Serena achieved the feat back in 2002 with Sharapova completing the set in June). As such it seems only right that they're battling it out in the final with the winner achieving the career Golden Grand Slam.

Steffi Graf (who won all four slams and Olympic gold back in 1988) is the only other player to have managed this. 

Serena will be strong favourite to win her first singles gold medal (she's won two doubles golds with her sister Venus) given her progress through the draw so far this week. The American has yet to concede more than three games in a set and she's destroyed Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka in success. Given how good those players are (they've all reached Grand Slam finals), for Serena to beat them all dropping just 7 games across the three matches, is simply remarkable.

The long wait is over: Chris Tiu is joining the PBA.

After skipping the draft last year to continue to focus on the national team, Tiu announced he was making himself available to turn pro on Friday.

“It took me some time because I have to consult my family and had to wait for their go signal before I made myself available for the draft,” Tiu told InterAKTV in an exclusive interview.

Tiu beat the August 3 deadline and submitted his application to the PBA at around 11 a.m.

He said he looks forward to playing in the league regardless of which team takes him.

“Ang gusto ko lang naman makalaro,” said the former SMART-Gilas Pilipinas team captain. “Maski saan, as long as gagamitin ako.”