RIO DE JANEIRO — An ode to beautiful basketball it was not.

With a trip to the gold medal game on the line and its most familiar international opponent in the way, the U.S. men’s basketball team shot as poorly as it had all tournament. Carmelo Anthony, the leading Olympic scorer in U.S. history, hit just two of 11 shots and two of five free throws.

But the undefeated Americans rode a rugged defensive effort and 22 points from Klay Thompson to beat Spain, 82-76, and earn a place in Sunday afternoon’s Olympic final against either Serbia or Australia.

“What I would say is that it was a very hard game,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “It wasn’t easy flowing. … It was probably the most different game I’ve coached internationally for the United States.”

Though he’s the least deft offensive player on the U.S. team, center DeAndre Jordan was a fitting star for a ragged spectacle. He tied a U.S. Olympic record with 16 rebounds, blocked four shots and brought the crowd to its feet with a violent dunk off a Thompson miss in the third quarter.

He also traveled on a one-man fast break with no defender in his vicinity. But it was that kind of game.

“We wouldn’t be playing for the gold medal if DeAndre didn’t play that well,” Krzyzewski said.

Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo credited Jordan and the U.S. defense with throwing his team off its game.

“Their athleticism, their size, they made our offense get difficult on most possessions,” he said.

Spain is a familiar nemesis for the Krzyzewski-coached national team, having played the U.S. tough in each of the past two Olympic gold medal games.

Its roster is chock full of current and former NBA players, starting with star center Pau Gasol, point guard Ricky Rubio and power forward Nikola Mirotic.

The U.S. led, 26-17, at the end of the first quarter and struggled to push its advantage much beyond that for the rest of the game. Gasol kept Spain close with 23 points, scoring at will in the first and third quarters despite Jordan’s massive presence in the paint.

The game never settled into an easy rhythm, and it didn’t help that the referees called six technical fouls in the second quarter, leaving players on both teams afraid to open their mouths.

In the end, the U.S. didn’t pull away so much as hold on.

In addition to Thompson’s sweet shooting, Kyle Lowry gave the team a shot of adrenaline with nine points in 15 minutes off the bench.

Anthony grinned afterward despite the fact that he’d shot poorly for a second straight game. At 32, he’s the wise old man on this team, seeking to become the first male basketball player ever to win three Olympic gold medals.

“We won and that’s what matters,” he said. “Spain always plays us tough. Now we’ve got one more game, and we’ve got to lock in.”

It’s a young U.S. team with precious little Olympic experience and less glitz than past editions that included LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade among other superstars.

But in two months together, the players have grown close.

“I feel like I’ve known these guys my whole career,” Jordan said.

They don’t want to be responsible for costing USA Basketball the legacy it has rebuilt under Krzyzewski. Anthony is the one player who has been present for that entire ride, so perhaps the goal is even more personal to him.

“We’ve got one game, and that’s what we came here for,” he said. “We don’t want to leave with nothing less than a gold medal.”