As the 2024 Olympics in Paris roll on, USA Basketball clinched the top overall seed going into the knockout rounds in both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
The men had a dominant group stage, going 3-0 against Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico with a plus-64 point differential. That earned them the top overall seed going into the knockout stages, where the Americans are three wins away from winning a gold medal.
Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis have both played key roles for USA and that will likely continue now that they are in a do-or-die situation.
To start things off in the quarterfinals, Team USA will play against Brazil on Tuesday, Aug. 6, at 12:30 p.m. PT:
ROAD TO GOLD 🥇
Men’s #Basketball Quarter-Finals are here 🔥#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/rCdpqMzulb
— FIBA (@FIBA) August 3, 2024
As the bracket shows, if USA is able to get by Brazil then they will play the winner of Serbia and Australia in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, Germany will take on Greece while the host France will take on Canada. Those matchups feature some NBA stars like Franz Wagner, Dennis Schroder, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray.
Serbia also has reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, although USA was able to get past them in the Olympic opener.
Brazil doesn’t have a ton of NBA talent on their team although players like Marcelo Huertas, Gui Santos and Raul Neto and all played in the league. Huertas is a notable name for Lakers fans, of course, playing for the team from 2015-17. He is the oldest player in the tournament, ahead of James at 41.
LeBron James acknowledges challenges ahead of USA
While USA Basketball was able to cruise to three victories in the group stage, things will only get more challenging from here, as LeBron James acknowledged.
“There’s a lot of great teams right now,” James said. “Obviously, Canada and Germany. I like the battle that Greece has had. We had Serbia in our group play and we know what they’re capable of. Australia as well. We’ve got to be ready for whoever our matchup is.”
In his final Olympic run, James has arguably been USA’s best player and that will need to continue if they are going to bring home the gold. While they shouldn’t have any issues getting past Brazil, a potential gold medal game against Germany, Canada or France would have a lot of intrigue.
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