BEIJING (China) - Back in 2002, Argentina played the Final of the FIBA Basketball World Cup with Luis Scola on board. Fast forward 17 years, and Luis is looking better than ever, with a chance to win the gold that's missing from his illustrious collection of silverware from all over the world.

The power forward averaged 9.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game en route to the silver in Indianapolis in 2002. That second-place finish was just the beginning of the road for the Olympic champion, two-time FIBA AmeriCup winner, one time Pan American Games gold medalist, and owner of nine other medals in international competitions.

This time around, at 39 years of age, he is up to 19.3 points and 8.1 rebounds a day in China, looking happier than ever.

"I feel very well, very excited, very happy," Scola said after tormenting France - a team with a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert protecting the paint - with 28 points and 13 rebounds in the Semi-Finals. "This team is fun to play with, we are winning and that is always fun. But besides that, it's just fun to be here."

Fun is probably the best word to describe the way Argentina played in China. With all of their weapons on full display here, with Scola, Campazzo, Laprovittola, Vildoza, Brussino, Garino, Deck, Delia and all the others contributing, when they get on the same page, their basketball feels like a genuine fiesta, like it's just a one big fun song that has everybody moving to the beat.

 
Which brings back a lot of memories of 2002.

"The journalists told us that they are dancing in the streets back home," Pepe Sanchez said, per The New York Times, 17 years ago when the team surprised the world by reaching the Final.

The same kind of narrative could be used again, because Argentina are back in the gold medal game, with a 39-year-old Luis Scola leading the charge. Since he was a part of the Golden Generation which finished second in 2002 and won gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, this sounded like a good time to draw comparison.

The hair is gone, but the man who was celebrating in 2004 is still here

"I see a lot of similarities between this team and what we went through in 2002, 2004. Will that mean that we are going to win it all? I don't know. We already won the bronze...sorry, sorry, silver! (Laughs) That's even better. Are we going to win the gold? I don't know, but seems it's going to be close," Scola exhaled after 34 minutes on the floor against France.

Remember, France had defeated USA in the Quarter-Finals. With a loaded team of their own, they were the favorites to go all the way here, but coach Sergio Hernandez had all the answers. Their defense was on another level, with Gabriel Deck, who played center and power forward in this tournament, chasing Evan Fournier all over the floor. And once the French shooting guard got used to Deck's size, Argentina had another trick up their sleeve, putting Facundo Campazzo on Fournier.

Offensively, they used the same trick that worked for Australia in the Second Round when they defeated France. Pick and pop against Gobert, to drag him out of the paint and away from the rim. That was the way for Scola to score two of his three three-pointers on the night in the fourth quarter, killing any hope of a French comeback. But for the 39-year-old Argentine talisman, it wasn't about tactical details, at all.

"I just think we played better basketball (than France). We were the better team out there. Everybody agrees on that. We played great basketball all tournament long, and I do strongly believe that we deserve to be where we are."

The job is not done yet. Yes, the fans are dancing in the streets back home, and yes, they are dancing in the stands of the Wukesong Sport Arena, too. But just reaching the Final wasn't Luis' goal here. What seems like a big surprise in the eyes of many, that's just what the big man had expected from this team.

"Maybe some people thought before the tournament that we shouldn't be here, and that's okay. I don't blame them. But, once the games started, we played with a plan, we played this way in all the games and we made noise. Nobody can say that we don't deserve to be where we are," he explained.

At 39, Scola has already set a number of records, playing his fifth World Cup and climbing to the second spot on the all-time scoring list, just behind Brazil's Oscar Schmidt. With the way he has been playing over the past two and a half weeks, he could grab another record, one which would be almost impossible to break.

Because the oldest MVP of the competition ever was Yugoslavia's Ivo Daneu, aged 30 back in 1967. Scola going all the way on the brink of his 40th birthday - that's a story that only the gods of basketball could write up.

FIBA