Olympic Basketball: USA Basketball looks no further than Tuesday’s quarterfinal opponent

After cruising through the pool stage of the 2024 Olympics with an impressive 3-0 record, Team USA men’s basketball has silenced any critical doubters about the program during five inconsistent warm-up games. The club has won all three of its games by an average margin of 24 points and appears to be the absolute best in class.

Team USA boasts one of its most loaded lineups in years. The 12-man roster features All-NBA Boston Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum and his All-Defensive Team buddies Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and center Anthony Davis, All-Star Phoenix Suns power forward Kevin Durant and shooting guard Devin Booker, All-NBA Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, All-NBA Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards, All-NBA Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, All-Star Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo and All-NBA Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

Can the group secure their fifth consecutive gold medal at the Paris Olympics? Fans will find out when the knockout round begins on Tuesday.

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr is preparing for the very specific task of defeating Team Brazil, their quarterfinal opponent.

“They’re very physical. I think they’re the best offensive rebounding team in the tournament,” Kerr said. “They’ve got a lot of good shooters and they just play hard. They compete play after play, so we’ve got to be ready for their physicality and their shooting, and we’ve got to be on our toes and be ready for them because they’re not going to give up.”

James, who has emerged as the club’s de facto leader, has already studied game footage. The 20-time All-Star is averaging 14.3 points on 64 percent shooting from the floor, 7.3 assists and 6.7 rebounds a night.

“I watched every game,” LeBron James said. “They’re very committed to their offensive and defensive systems.”

Team USA will hold the No. 1 overall seed for the remainder of the tournament, with the Americans’ game against Brazil beginning at 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The winner will face the winner of the matchup between Team Australia, led by Chicago Bulls point guard Josh Giddey, and Team Serbia, led by three-time MVP Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.

Brazil’s long-range vision could make it a potentially challenging matchup for Team USA. The Brazilians made 18 3-point attempts to secure a victory over Team Japan and advance to the quarterfinals. Veteran NBA forward Bruno Caboclo scored 33 points. Only one player for Team Brazil is currently with the club, Warriors forward Gui Santos.

Team Canada, which has 10 current NBA players, and Germany, which won the 2023 FIBA ​​World Cup, are on the other side of the bracket. Both clubs are also 3-0.

According to Eurohoops’ Aris Barkas, Kerr knows that Team USA is much more familiar with most of the other clubs in the remaining pool this year than they are with Brazil.

“Yeah, I mean, we’ve seen almost everybody,” Kerr noted, before adding, “We haven’t seen Brazil yet, and that’s our focus. The other teams, we saw Australia, Serbia, Germany twice, they’re all great teams, well-coached, but Brazil is our focus. So we have to be ready. I know they made 18 three-pointers yesterday, they’re the best offensive-rebounding team in the tournament.”

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