Joel Embiid finally breaks out, Team USA beats Brazil in Olympic MBB

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After capturing the top overall seed with a dominant group stage showing, Team USA continued its dominance in the men’s basketball tournament.

By easily handling Brazil, 122-87, Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and America are heading to the semifinals, where Serbia awaits. The U.S., a 27.5-point favorite, started strong and never let up, with a balanced effort in which the roster gelled as well as imaginable.

Turning the quarterfinal matchup into shooting practice, the US had six players score double-digit points and shot 57% overall from the field and 48% from deep.

The U.S. has yet to fully unlock Curry, who finished with seven points on 2-for-3 shooting, but that hasn’t mattered the slightest bit. Since looking rocky in exhibition games, Team USA has rolled through the tournament. The Americans now have victories of 35, 26, 17 and 21 points.

Kerr continued his game plan of essentially platooning his lineups, subbing five in and five out. For much of the tournament, his bench unit — led by Kevin Durant — has been more effective than the starters. Tuesday, Curry and the starters looked more comfortable than they showed in the group stage.

Joel Embiid knocked down two early triples and Curry converted a pair of layups assisted by LeBron James. The U.S. blitzed Brazil from the opening tip, jumping out to an 18-6 lead while sinking its first four 3-pointers.

Both units blanketed Brazil defensively. They put ball pressure on Brazil’s guards, including 41-year-old Marcelo Huertas, and forced them into contested jump shots.

But Brazil found rhythm in the second quarter against Embiid’s drop coverage in the pick-and-roll, cutting the U.S. lead to eight. But Embiid sank his third 3 on the other end and James (nine assists) picked apart Brazil’s defense.

Jayson Tatum’s alley-oop dunk — off another assist from James on an inbounds pass — capped a 15-0 U.S. run to close the half firmly in control.

Trailing by 25, Brazil resorted to spraying 3-pointers and running in transition. They looked on the perimeter for Warriors reserve Gui Santos, who registered seven points and five rebounds.

No one could expect Santos, leading scorer Bruno Caboclo, or anyone else on Brazil’s roster to match USA’s star power. On one play, Anthony Davis snatched an offensive rebound from Santos and stuffed an and-1 dunk. The next U.S. possession, Davis soared over Santos for a one-handed putback jam.

With a dunk off a backdoor cut, Durant became the United States’ all-time leading scorer — men’s or women’s — in Olympic play.

The Americans are two wins away from a gold medal in a tournament where anything less would be a failure. A rematch against Nikola Jokic’s Serbia, which the U.S. handled 110-84 in group play, is next in the semis.

Serbia has significantly more talent than Brazil, but no team in the tournament will be able to touch the U.S. if it keeps playing like it did on Tuesday.

Originally Published: August 6, 2024 at 2:13 p.m.

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