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PARIS — If this was a soccer game between national teams, maybe the roles would’ve reversed. Maybe Brazil would’ve rolled out players known on a first-name basis and scorched a wider and different sort of net.
On Tuesday, however, there was no Neymar or Ronaldo or even Ronaldinho. Therefore, no chance against LeBron, Embiid or Steph. Among others.
The Americans opened the quarterfinals with an announcement issued through a bullhorn, serving notice — as if that were necessary — about where they stand this week in Paris and what they’re after.
USA’s scoring outlasts Brazil to advance to the #Paris2024 Semifinals 🇺🇸
DBook: 18 PTS, 5 3PM
Ant: 17 PTS, 3 3PM
AD: 13 PTS, 8 REB
LBJ: 12 PTS, 9 AST pic.twitter.com/LW7rFDszXP— NBA (@NBA) August 6, 2024
And they did it early, eliminating all the nagging issues that bugged them in previous first halves in group play. Team USA was up 27 points at the break. Coach Steve Kerr barely left his seat.
“We wanted to make sure we were the aggressor right from the start,” Kerr said.
On a night of quarterfinal Olympic basketball where the lower-seeded teams won two games earlier in the day, order and common sense was restored in a nightcap that lacked any suspense. The U.S. shot 48% from deep, 57% from the floor, never appeared worried.
“We wanted to get contributions from everyone, which we did, and obviously when that happens we’re on our game,” Jayson Tatum said.
Next up for Team USA are the Serbians, who rallied from 24 down against Australia. But the U.S. already owns two wins, counting exhibitions, against Team Nikola Jokic this summer.
Here are four takeaways from USA’s 122-87 power move past Brazil and into the semifinals (and a fifth take on Tuesday’s biggest game, France’s upset of Canada):
1. Embiid, at it again
He took a blast of boos from the French crowd during pregame introductions, which everyone knew would happen. But he wasn’t booed at the start of the second half.
And there was a good reason for that: Joel Embiid’s first half was so strong and thorough — and he did slightly turn his ankle — that his night was done early.
Actually, at one point during an Embiid run of buckets, the boos came much quieter, almost as if they didn’t make a difference, so why bother?
He scored 14 points in the half, missing only one shot, with seven rebounds. Brazil, light on quality big men, didn’t bring much in terms of resistance.
This was exactly the type of lopsided game the Americans could’ve used at this stage — breezy and easy, not too demanding at all and allowing for lots of rest. The starters were pulled for good midway through the third quarter. None played more than 17 minutes and no American player saw more than 21.
Anyway, after looking lethargic since first pulling on a USA uniform a month ago, Embiid has gradually gotten better, as Kerr predicted he would. His past two games: 15 and 14 points in an average of 17 minutes.
2. LeBron takes an elbow, gives dimes
Kerr was ready to call it a night for LeBron when a flying and inadvertent elbow to the head beat him to it. After taking the blow in the third quarter, LeBron James walked to the locker room for a quick examination and four stitches. When he returned, it was to the bench.
Once again, as he has throughout this Team USA experience, LeBron set the tone for his team and was arguably the best player on the floor.
“That’s who LeBron is,” Kerr said. “He’s our point guard, really. He’s got so much talent around him, the game makes so much sense with him having the ball.”
He leads the team in assists, getting nine against Brazil, and it’s an interesting role for a player who’s not only the career scoring leader in the NBA but has other point guards on Team USA.
But LeBron has turned Steph Curry into a two guard, same for Jrue Holiday, while turning in high usage every game in these Olympics.
3. USA on the upswing
And so for the third straight game, the Americans switched to a higher gear. A 35-point win over Brazil followed a 21-point win over Puerto Rico (it was larger than the margin of victory) and 17 over South Sudan.
You could say they like where this is trending.
“It’s definitely going in that direction,” Anthony Davis said. “You can see it in every part of our game. Our defense was always there, and now we’re cutting down our mistakes and not having any lapses.”
Devin Booker led the team with 18 points, joining Kevin Durant and Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis for those honors during this team’s elevation in performance.
“We could have 10, 12 different leading scorers,” said Adebayo. “Any one of us could get hot.”
4. Lineup seems locked in
Unless there’s something that happens to influence Kerr’s thinking, the starting lineup going forward will likely be Embiid, LeBron, Curry, Holiday and Booker, as it has been for much of the summer.
The second unit might in some ways be just as good or better with Durant, Adebayo, Edwards, Davis, Derrick White. When Tatum is the 11th man, at least for this game, it’s the ultimate flex for the deepest team in the tournament.
Three players off the bench scored in double figures Tuesday, but again, most saw minutes in a wipeout.
“The guys have really turned it up,” Kerr said. “But our two toughest games will be the net two.”
5. Woe, Canada
If this were the national hockey team at the Winter Olympics, there would be mourning up north. Just the same, losing to France 82-73 in hoops was a serious disappointment for Canada, a heavy medal favorite flush with 10 NBA players and a 2024 Kia NBA MVP finalist in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“When you don’t earn it, you lose,” Jamal Murray said, “and that’s what happened.”
Murray, who said he was fine physically, had a rough tournament. He looked lost, sluggish. His shooting was problematic all summer (14% from deep) and that continued to spook him in the quarterfinals. He missed 10 of 13 shots Tuesday while being pulled from the starting lineup, which he said “was an adjustment, for sure.”
Worse for Canada, the French won without heavy production from A-listers Victor Wembanyama (one basket), Nic Batum (zero points but solid defense) and Rudy Gobert (no points, one rebound).
Speaking of Gobert: He was benched by coach Vincent Collet, who wanted “small ball” against the Canadians and shifted Wemby to center and Guerschon Yabusele (22 points), a former first-round pick of the Celtics, at power forward. There was some confusion about other reasons; Collet said he went with the better lineup for Canada, while Gobert cited a finger injury as a factor, too.
“It worked,” Gobert said. “The guys were ready to play.”
The French team was relieved by the result; there was immense pressure on the host country of the Olympics to win at least one game in the medal round. The fans showed up in force at Bercy Arena and banged on drums for almost the entire 40 minutes.
Suffering from a lack of offensive punch, France wasn’t impressive in group play, needing overtime to beat Japan, and Tuesday’s lineup shuffle was a result of that.
Wembanyama, who did have a big block on Dillon Brooks in the final minutes as France clung to a five-point lead, said: “We had a lot of time to think and fix things. We all had to realize our roles.”
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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