Paris (AFP) – The United States, with 18 points from Devin Booker and 17 from Anthony Edwards, routed Brazil 122-87 on Tuesday to book an Olympic basketball semi-final showdown with Nikola Jokic’s Serbia. Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James scored 12 points and handed out nine assists before departing in the third quarter after taking an inadvertent elbow to the eye. His exit didn’t slow the US team packed with NBA talent, who delivered a stream of highlight reel plays to the delight of fans at Bercy Arena.
The US remained unbeaten in Olympic quarter-finals, but James said it’s just a step toward the main mission. “We understand what the main goal is, and the main goal is for us to win gold,” James said. “That’s all I care about.” Cameroon-born Joel Embiid scored 14 points, connecting on all three of his three-point attempts and shrugging off the boos of French fans still irked by his decision to play for the United States despite his eligibility for the host side. Anthony Davis added 13 points and Kevin Durant scored 11 as the United States continued their march toward a fifth straight Olympic title and their 17th overall.
Related news
With a dunk late in the third quarter, Durant got his sixth point of the contest and the 489th of his Olympic career. That made him the most prolific scorer among US men or women basketballers in the Olympics, passing Lisa Leslie. “Records are meant to be broken, so somebody will come along and do the same,” Durant said. “We’re just focused on trying to win this gold.”
An energetic Brazil did what they could, cutting a 19-point deficit to eight midway through the second quarter with a spurt that featured a dunk from Lucas Dias along with three-pointers from Marcelinho Huertas and Dias. But they fouled Stephen Curry on a three-point attempt and he made all three free throws to set the US off again. James’s layup after a scramble under the basket gave the Americans a 50-36 lead and launched a 13-0 scoring run to end the first half that was punctuated by a dunk from Jayson Tatum.
Former NBA first-round draft pick Bruno Caboclo of Brazil led all scorers with 30 points, but the South Americans couldn’t make a dent in the second half. The US will now fight for a berth in the final against a battle-tested Serbian side. Jokic and company rallied from 24 points down to edge Australia 95-90 earlier Tuesday. The US have beaten Serbia twice in recent weeks, in a tune-up game and again in group play.
“Every game is its own test,” James said. “It don’t matter what happened in the first two, it’s about what goes down Thursday night. So we need to lock in on our film session tomorrow, lock in during the day on Thursday and then come out and be ready to go.”
© 2024 AFP
