Team USA is the clear favorite to win men's basketball gold at the Olympics, but Steve Kerr, the team's head coach, is trying to prepare his all-star squad for a tough game against Brazil in the quarterfinals.
The Americans won their final game of the group stage on Saturday, cruising to a 104-83 victory over Puerto Rico. While the United States had already secured first place in its group and thus a spot in the quarterfinals before the game even tipped off, Brazil watched on, waiting for its quarterfinals opponent to be finalized. Had Serbia vs. South Sudan been a closer, more competitive game, the Brazilians would have faced Germany in a rematch from this past Tuesday.
Instead, Brazil is set for a faceoff with the tournament's prohibitive favorites, the USA. Led by a Hall of Fame core of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant, the Americans are expected to beat Brazil before meeting Serbia or Australia.
However, Kerr, who has received plenty of criticism over the past few weeks for his rotations, particularly in relation to Jayson Tatum's playing time or lack thereof, said his team should not underestimate Brazil on Tuesday.
“They're very physical. I think they're the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the tournament,” Kerr said today, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst. “They've got a lot of really good shooters, and they just play hard. They compete play after play, so we'll have to be ready for their physicality and their shooting, and we need to be on edge and ready for them because they're not going to back down.”
Coincidentally, Brazil's only current NBA player is Golden State Warriors wing Gui Santos, but the team has several former NBA players, including Cristiano Felicio, Raul Neto, Bruno Caboclo, and team captain Marcelinho Huertas.
Team USA vs. Brazil set for quarterfinals
The United States and Brazil have had very different paths to the same place at the 2024 Summer Olympics. While Team USA won each of its three Group C games by at least 17 points, Brazil suffered back-to-back double-digit defeats to Germany and France in Group B. Fortunately, the Brazilians defeated Japan by 18 in their final group game, which proved to be just enough to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals as a result of a point-differential tiebreaker.
In the group phase, Brazil ranked third-to-last in points per game (80.3), while the United States was far ahead in first (105.7 points per game). Additionally, the Brazilians were the most turnover-prone team through the first three games, which could prove costly against the explosive Team USA roster. However, Brazil currently leads all teams in offensive rebounding.
The quarterfinal game between the United States and Brazil is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
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