PARIS– Every favorite team in the first three men’s basketball quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics was in trouble. Canada lost to France. Serbia erased a 24-point deficit to beat Australia. Germany had to overcome a double-digit deficit before beating Greece.
So going into the fourth and final game of the night, the U.S. knew what they had to do.
“We wanted to take control and make sure we were the aggressor,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said.
They made it all look easy too. Devin Booker led a balanced front with 18 points and the Americans had little trouble with Brazil in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics, winning 122-87 on Tuesday.
The USA (4-0) faces Serbia (3-1) in Thursday’s semi-finals, while Germany (4-0) faces France (3-1) in the other semi-final. The winners of these games will play Saturday night for the gold medal; Thursday’s losers will play Saturday morning for the bronze medal.
“Everyone expects us to win,” said American forward Jayson Tatum. “But you don’t take things for granted, right? Canada lost before. It’s a different game. It’s not like the playoffs, where it’s a series. We have a game and a lot of (things) can happen in a game, especially here.”
If there was a problem, it was this: LeBron James left in the third quarter after taking an elbow to his left eye, hit by Brazilian Georginho de Paula while trying for a rebound. James fell, eventually pressed a towel over his eye and left for the locker room late in the third.
Kerr said James needed four stitches.
“I’m fine,” said James. “I was hit with an inadvertent elbow around the eye.”
Anthony Edwards scored 17 points, while Joel Embiid – booed again in France, of course – had 14 points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes of the first half for the Americans. Anthony Davis finished with 13 points and eight rebounds for the USA. James had 12 points and nine assists.
Kevin Durant scored 11 points and spent Lisa Leslie as the U.S. Olympic career scoring leader, male or female. Leslie scored 488 points in her four Olympic appearances, all of which ended with gold medals. Durant is also trying to go 4-for-4 in front of the gold; he is two wins away from achieving that.
“He is incredible. He was born to play ball and he’s just incredible,” James said. “I’m happy for him. Congratulations to him. I’m really proud of him. And he’s still got more to come.”
There was a moment when Brazil might have thought they had a chance. It trailed the US by just eight points midway through the second quarter. A large deficit has turned into something quite manageable.
The moment was short-lived.
A 21-2 run in the final 3:56 of the half turned things into their predictable explosive state. That eliminated any doubt that might have existed – let’s be honest, there wasn’t much, if any – and the U.S. turned the eight-point lead into a 63-36 run over the final 20 minutes.
Bruno Caboclo was Brazil’s star, leading all scorers with 30 points.
Playing in Paris for the first time during these Games, attendances were smaller – the arena used for the three group stage games is almost twice the size of that used for the knockout stage – but, given the risks, participation certainly seemed more star-studded.
Retired Olympic basketball star Carmelo Anthony and his son, Kiyan, were there, sitting next to Pau Gasol in VIP seats near the court. US women’s star A’ja Wilson had a spot alongside Snoop Dogg, who became the unofficial ambassador of all things Team USA at these Olympics.
They came for a show. They got one. James led the charge late in the half, and that was pretty much the game.
“Bron is out there flipping coins,” UConn women’s star Paige Bueckers said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and she wasn’t wrong. He went 4-for-4 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, 10 points and eight assists.
James returned to the bench with about three minutes left in the game after being treated for that shot to the face.
And the crowd in Paris roared.
Maybe it was because James was fine. It may have been because, at the same moment, French Olympic swimmer Leon Marchand – winner of four gold medals at the Paris Games – was also appearing on the scoreboard.
Either way, they had a lot to celebrate.
“These are the medal games now,” Booker said. “I have to take this to another level.”
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This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
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