Team USA Routs Brazil 122-87 to Move Within Two Wins of Capturing Olympic Gold
After posting a 3-0 record in pool play and earning the number one seed in the medal round, Team USA demolished Brazil in the quarterfinals to set up a semifinal matchup on Thursday versus Serbia, who needed overtime to beat Australia. Team USA jumped out to an 18-8 lead within the first five minutes, and enjoyed a double digit cushion most of the rest of the way. Brazil cut the margin to just eight points, 42-34, at the 4:10 mark of the second quarter before Team USA closed the half with a 21-2 run to erase any doubt. As is generally the case in FIBA play, strong defense leading to transition scoring opportunities was the key factor. Team USA held Brazil to 32-77 (.416) field goal shooting overall, including 12-37 (.324) from beyond the arc. Team USA controlled the boards 46-34, and forced 15 turnovers while only turning the ball over 11 times. Each Team USA starter had a plus/minus number of at least +12, a welcome change from previous games when opposing teams kept pace with Team USA's starters before succumbing to Team USA's superior depth.
Starter Devin Booker scored a team-high 18 points on 6-9 field goal shooting in 15 minutes. Anthony Edwards added 17 points on 6-10 field goal shooting off of the bench in 20 minutes. Joel Embiid, inserted in the starting lineup despite his largely desultory play for Team USA, had 14 points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes; naturally, while finally having a good game he engaged in constant celebrations, taunting a French crowd that jeered him for spurning France (he is a French citizen as well) to play for Team USA. Also naturally, Embiid injured his ankle during the first half and did not play in the second half: watching him play for Team USA is like watching him in the NBA playoffs when he usually plays below his regular season standard for most games but has one or two good games and invariably is either injured entering the postseason or gets hurt during the playoffs. He is not expected to miss more time in the Olympics.
Anthony Davis, Team USA's defensive anchor, scored 13 points on 5-9 field goal shooting while also tying Brazil's Georginho De Paula for game-high rebounding honors (eight). LeBron James added 12 points on 5-6 field goal shooting plus a game-high nine assists before leaving the game after taking an elbow to the face. James needed four stitches and did not return to action but he is expected to be fully available for the Serbia game. Kevin Durant chipped in 11 points off of the bench and surpassed Lisa Leslie to become the all-time leading scorer for Team USA in Olympic play (of course, such records are skewed in favor of modern players who participate in the Olympics several times, in contrast to previous eras when American players played in the Olympics just once).
Bruno Caboclo scored a game-high 30 points for Brazil, but Team USA held most of his teammates in check.
Serbia has been up and down during the Olympics, but they have the best player in the world (Nikola Jokic) plus Bojan Bogdanovic and a bunch of scrappy players who most casual fans do not know much about. Team USA handled Serbia pretty easily in both the USA Basketball Showcase and pool play, though it is worth mentioning that in pool play Serbia played even with Team USA for the 31 minutes that Jokic was on the court but was outscored 29-3 during the nine minutes that Jokic was on the bench. If Serbia plays Jokic almost the entire game and he gets a little more help from his teammates then this game could be closer than expected, particularly if Team USA has some defensive lapses.
Labels: 2024 Olympics, Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Team USA
posted by David Friedman @ 9:04 AM
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