THE UNITED States reached the semifinals round of the 2024 Paris Olympics men’s basketball after a 122-87 victory over Brazil in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night (Wednesday in the Philippines) at the Bercy Arena in Paris, France.
Devin Booker ignited the offense with 18 points, including five three-point conversions, while Anthony Edwards came off the bench to contribute 17 markers in Team USA’s lopsided win.
Joel Embiid contributed 14 points, Anthony Davis ended with 13 markers, while LeBron James and Kevin Durant chipped in 12 and 11 markers, respectively, for the reigning Olympic gold medal winners.
Team USA immediately made their presence felt in the opening quarter as they jumped to a 33-21 lead before widening the lead further to 63-36 going into the halftime break.
With the outcome no longer in doubt, Team USA coasted to the finish line with every player getting on the scoresheet as head coach Steve Kerr used all of his 12 players for the first time in the Summer Games.
Bruno Caboclo top-scored with 30 points, while Georginho de Paula added 15 markers for Brazil, which denied Gilas Pilipinas an Olympic stint in the qualifying tournament last month in Latvia.
Meanwhile, Serbia, the 2023 FIBA World Cup runner up, reached the semifinals round following a come-from-behind 95-90 overtime victory over Australia Boomers in the quarterfinals.
Nikola Jokic stepped up for the Serbians in the extension period as he knocked down a shot to give his team a 91-90 lead before he followed it up with another basket for a 93-90 edge with under a minute left.
The Denver Nuggets center finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds, Bogdan Bogdanovic added 17 for points for Serbia, which rallied from a 24-point first-half deficit to secure the win.
Patty Mills had 26 points, with 20 coming in the opening half, for the Boomers, which won the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo three years ago.
In other quarterfinals results, Germany pulled off a come-from-behind 76-63 victory over Greece, while host France moved on to the next round by defeating Canada, 82-73./PN
BOX SCORE:
USA 122 — Booker 18, Edwards 17, Embiid 14, Davis 13, James 12, Durant 11, Holiday 9, Adebayo 9, Curry 7, Tatum 5, White 5, Haliburton 2.
BRAZIL 87 — Caboclo 30, De Paula 15, Huertas 9, Dias 8, Y. Santos 8, Meindl 7, G. Santos 7, Benite 3, Neto 0, Cardoso 0, Felicio 0, Louzada 0.
Quarterscores: 33-21, 63-36, 94-71, 122-87.
