Paris (AFP) – The United States overwhelmed Brazil 122-87 on Tuesday to book an Olympic basketball semi-final against comeback kings Serbia as hosts France lined up a last-four clash with World Cup champions Germany. Devin Booker scored 18 points and Anthony Edwards added 17 as six US players scored in double figures. That included Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, who had 12 points, nine assists, three rebounds and three steals before he departed early in the third quarter after taking an inadvertent elbow to the eye.
He briefly visited the locker room then returned to watch his teammates polish off another dominant win. The Americans connected on 57.7 percent of their shots from the field, including 48.4 percent from three-point range. They piled up nine steals and six blocks while delivering a stream of highlight reel dunks. “That’s what our team is built on, depth and, you know, we can have anybody get it going as far as scoring,” James said. “We understand what the main goal is. The only main goal is for us to win gold, that’s all I care about.”
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Anthony Davis scored 13 points and Kevin Durant scored 11. With a dunk in the third quarter, Durant nabbed the 489th point of his Olympic career, making him the most prolific scorer among US men or women players in the Olympics, passing Lisa Leslie. Brazil’s Bruno Caboclo led all scorers with 30 points, but the South Americans made little impression on a US side that has rolled through to the final four. They will face a battle-tested Serbia, who erased a 24-point deficit to edge Australia 95-90 in overtime.
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic scored 21 points with 14 rebounds and eight assists, and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 17 points. Five Serbian players scored in double figures — and they needed those contributions after 35-year-old NBA veteran Patty Mills exploded for 14 straight points in a 20-0 Australia scoring run. Mills finished with 26 points and Josh Giddey added 25, but Serbia out-scored Australia 25-11 in the third quarter to lead 67-65 going into the final period. Mills drilled a jump shot over Jokic to send it to overtime, but Jokic essentially sealed it with back-to-back baskets that put Serbia up 93-90 with 25 seconds left in overtime.
Bogdanovic described the atmosphere in Serbia’s locker room at halftime as “a lot of madness.” “But I think we found momentum in the second quarter,” he said.
– France dominate Canada –
France had Bercy Arena rocking with a wire-to-wire 82-73 victory over previously unbeaten Canada, while Germany weathered an early push from Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece to triumph 76-63. On a quiet night for Victor Wembanyama, Guerschon Yabusele scored 22 points and Isaia Cordinier added 20 for the hosts, who were buoyed throughout by the crowd as they booked a semi-final meeting with Germany. Wembanyama scored just seven points but pulled down 12 rebounds.
Evan Fournier’s 15 points included a monster three-pointer with less than a minute to play. “We had 40 solid minutes and I think if I’d made my shots we would have won the game even earlier,” Wembanyama said. “It just shows that we can be much better.” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recorded a game-high 27 points for Canada, who pulled within striking distance in the fourth quarter but could not get over the hump. “They came out the aggressors and they punched us in the mouth,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They played with more force.”
Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points and Dennis Schroder added 13 points off the bench for Germany, who withstood a 22-point performance from two-time NBA MVP Antetokounmpo. “I think it speaks to our maturity,” Wagner said of Germany’s ability to recalibrate after falling in a 12-point hole early. “We even talked about it at halftime, not everything is going to go perfect all the time.”
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