The USA Men’s National
Basketball Team did not break a sweat as it dominated Brazil by 35
points, 122-87, to book a semifinals ticket at the 2024 Paris
Olympics.
Team USA led from start to
finish as they played their first game in Paris at the Bercy Arena
after playing their first 3 group stage games 150 miles north of
the French capital in Lille at the Pierre de Mauroy stadium. The
Americans were welcomed by a sold-out crowd in Paris this time and
did not disappoint.
Team USA unleashed a barrage of
threes led by Devin Booker, who had 18 points with 5 threes made.
Team USA also went up and ran the floor, causing havoc on the open
floor with their vaunted defense to get some easy buckets on the
other end.
Joel Embiid, a crowd favorite in
Paris, played perhaps the best game in a Team USA jersey with 14
points including 3/3 from downtown. He scored on an and-one in the
2nd quarter and had fun time hyping up fans that were booing him,
celebrating on a dx chop gesture made famous in the WWE.
LeBron James was his usual
captain self as he manned the team with 12 points and a team high 9
assists. James went to the locker room in the 3rd quarter after
getting hit inadvertently at the side of the head, and according to
head coach Steve Kerr, needed four stitches. James ended up back on
the bench in the 4th quarter as he watched his fellow Americans
cruise to the victory.
Kevin Durant, Team USA’s Captain
America, made history by becoming the federation’s all-time leading
scorer in history both in men’s and women’s by scoring 11 points.
He also had his 26th straight game of scoring 10 or more which is 2
more games off the mark of Pau Gasol, who has the record at 28
games straight.
Birthday boy Anthony Edwards who
just turned 23 had himself a fun game, scoring 17 points and
getting up the shots he wanted to take off the
bench.
Everybody else played their role
and this Team USA still looks invincible 4 games in, with possibly
2 more games to go before winning that coveted 5th straight Olympic
gold medal.
Bruno Caboclo showed up for
Brazil with 30 points on 13/20 shooting, which marked his 2nd
straight game scoring 30 or more. Caboclo scored 33 points in their
win vs Japan.
Up next for Team USA is a
rematch with Serbia in the semifinals. Team USA notably beat the
Serbians by 26 in group stage play, and Serbia should have
something on their shoulders ahead of that colossal semis matchup
for a chance to play for gold.
