August 7 ------ AS with every Team USA game in the 2024 Paris Olympics, there's always that moment early in the game wherein the opposing team would look poised to hang around and compete against the global basketball powerhouse. That's until the Americans decide to flip the switch, and then it's game over for their opponents. This time around it was Brazil who fell victims to that Team USA blitz, resulting to a 122-87 blowout in the quarterfinal round of the men's basketball tournament inside the Bercy Arena in Paris.
Like clockwork, the Americans once again had that backbreaking run and it happened near the end of the first half as they ended the second quarter with 21-2 tear to turn a precarious eight point lead to a commanding 63-36 lead at the interval. LeBron James once again starred in that run together with Joel Embiid and Jrue Holiday as they held the South Americans without a field goal in a four minute stretch which saw them basically hit almost every shot they put up. There wasn't really anything the Brazilians can do as Anthony Edwards and Devin Booker picked up the slack in the second half, with the Americans once again flexing their depth with six players reaching double digits.
Booker had his best scoring game in the Olympics, finishing with 18 points while Edwards kept his hot form by adding 17. Embiid finished with 14 points and seven boards, while Anthony Davis also had his best game stats wise for Team USA as he finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. James, who was leading the team in assists after the pool phase, once again played quarterback as he finished with nine assists to go along his 12 points and three steals before heading out after receiving an elbow from Bruno Caboclo early in the fourth.
Caboclo paced the Brazilians with 30 points but the quarterfinals will be the end of the Olympic journey for Brazil who qualified to the tournament by winning the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament in Riga. Kevin Durant only scored 11 points in the win, but it was enough for him to pass Lisa Leslie for most points by any USA basketball player in both men's and women's teams. The two-time NBA champion now has 489 points with two games to spare for the Americans as he eclipsed Leslie's 488 built on her own legendary run in the Olympics when she won gold medals in Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing.
Leslie's four golds is something Durant will try to replicate in this run, and a victorious conquest in Paris would give him the distinction as the only male basketball player to win four gold medals for Team USA. The Americans will now brace for a rematch with Nikola Jokic and Serbia in the semifinals. They blew out the Serbians in their first meeting in the Olympics, 110-84. The other pairing will pit hosts France against FIBA World Champions Germany after the European squads hurdled their respective foes earlier.
Source: spin.ph
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