Nicolas Batum took to Twitter to apologize for punching Juan Carlos Navarro in the groin in the final minutes of France’s loss to Spain on Wednesday.

A fine or a suspension has not been issued. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports asked Batum after the game why he hit Navarro:

“I wanted to give him a good reason to flop,” Batum said.

France had scored six points total in the fourth quarter, including one stretch where the team didn’t score for more than seven minutes.

It was the second dirty play for Olympic basketball this week. Carmelo Anthony of the U.S. team took a shot to the groin from Argentina’s Facundo Campazzo during America’s win on Monday. Anthony said after the game it was “uncalled for” while Tyson Chandler, Anthony’s teammate on the Olympic team and the New York Knicks, called it a “cheap shot.”

Spain will now play Russia in the semifinals on Friday for the right to play the winner of U.S.-Argentina for the gold medal.

I want to apologize for my stupid act at the end, I showed a bad image of France and myself, Congrats to team Spain.—
Nicolas Batum (@nicolas88batum) August 08, 2012

I asked Nicolas Batum why he hit Juan-Carlos Navarro in the groin. "I wanted to give him a good reason to flop," Batum said.—
Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) August 08, 2012

Footage of Batum’s hit on Wednesday can be seen below.

Patrick Ewing is confident in the Dream Team’s hypothetical chances against today’s squad. (Fernando Medina, Getty Images)

The United States’ Men’s Basketball Team is off to a solid start at the 2012 Olympic games. After a string of exhibition victories, the team opened its campaign at the games today with a 98-71 victory over France.

However, ’92 Dream Teamer Patrick Ewing isn’t getting too carried away with the team’s recent results. Speaking with NBATV yesterday (relayed by FOX Sports‘ Chris Tomasson), Ewing said that while he doesn’t think the Dream Team would embarrass today’s squad, there is still little doubt as to which team is better.

“They’re a lot smaller than we were,’’ Ewing, one of 11 Hall of Famers on that Dream Team, said. “(The current team is) kind of light in the middle. Myself and David Robinson, we would have had a field day… I’m not saying we would have creamed them. Best out of 10, I’d say we’d have beaten them 10 out of 10.’’

Ewing didn’t elaborate on how winning 10 games out of 10 does not qualify as a “creaming.”

LeBron James will look a little less modern when USA Basketball tips off in Barcelona today (Stu Forster, Getty Images)

The 2012 United States Men’s Olympic Basketball team may not be the “Dream Team,” but they’ll certainly look the part this afternoon.

According to a tweet and Instagram photo from LeBron James, the USA will take the court in their exhibition game against Argentina in Barcelona wearing jerseys that harken back to the days of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. Click the link in the tweet below to see the uniform.

This year marks the 20-year anniversary of the Dream Team – the first Olympic basketball team to feature NBA players. The team made headlines on and off the court at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, steamrolling all opponents en route to a gold medal.

Throwback uni's for tonight's game #USA92 #hyperelite2012 instagr.am/p/NZFV2ECTKJ/—
LeBron James (@KingJames) July 22, 2012

Kobe Bryant thinks this year’s U.S. team would pull it out against the Dream Team. Jordan could only laugh. (Jeff Haynes/Getty Images)

Kobe Bryant said Wednesday he believed this year’s United States national basketball team could beat the 1992 Dream Team.

Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley could only laugh.

The five-time NBA MVP Jordan told The Associated Press on Thursday that he “absolutely laughed” when he heard Bryant’s comments.

Jordan says there was “no comparison” which team was better, adding that Byrant comparing the two teams “is not one of the smarter things he ever could have done.”

As expected, Barkley responded to the Bryant’s comments promptly by going on with Mike Missanelli on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia.

“I just started laughing,” Barkley said. “How old is Kobe Bryant, 36? He’s 34? And he’s calling us old? At the time, we were only like 28, 29. … Michael Jordan and me were the same age. We were both 29.”

Barkley went on to say he believed only LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Bryant would make the Dream Team.

In a video interview with the Wall Street Journal, Magic Johnson responded to Clyde Drexler’s comments from a brief excerpt of the book Dream Team that ran on Deadspin.com.

Drexler is quoted as saying: “Everybody kept waiting for Magic to die. Every time he’d run up the court everybody would feel sorry for the guy, and he’d get all that benefit of the doubt.”

Johnson told the WSJ (video below): “If that’s how he felt, then that’s how he felt. I think that Clyde was a guy that always fought for more publicity … a guy who thought he should deserve more credit. But if he felt like that, I’m OK with it. I’m not a guy who’s going to be upset that he said these types of things.”

Drexler issued a statement through the Houston Rockets, his current employer, denying having made the comments.

Author Jack McCallum, the longtime Sports Illustrated writer, called the quote accurate in a blog post, and provided more of the context surrounding the quote.

In light of NBATV’s The Dream Team documentary that debuted on Wednesday night, former Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas — who famously was left off the 1992 Olympic team, with many pointing to his icy relationship with Michael Jordan as the reason — tweets that he was inundated with requests for his reaction.

A lot of buzz today and folks asking my take on the Dream Team anniversary. Here’s my take. ow.ly/i/H9nH—
Isiah Thomas (@iamisiahthomas) June 14, 2012

The tweet links to this statement:

Today, like all Americans, I congratulate the Dream Team on their anniversary. I am proud of my career in the NBA and have fond memories of going head to head with all the members of the Team. I can’t speak to the selection process as I wasn’t involved. But 20 years later, their gold medal is still a momentous achievement.