LILLE, France — For three years, Team USA has been planning, recruiting and refining to reach this upcoming week in Paris. And they’ve aligned things in excellent position to claim their fifth consecutive gold medal.
The team took its final steps before heading to the French capital on Saturday, finishing off Olympic pool play 3-0 with a 104-83 victory over Puerto Rico to clinch the top overall seed in the medal round. That will begin Tuesday, when the U.S. will face Brazil in the quarterfinals at Bercy Arena at 3:30 ET.
Also in Team USA’s medal round bracket are Serbia and Australia; the winner of that game will face either the U.S. or Brazil. In the opposite bracket Canada faces France and Germany will play Greece.
“I think we got done what we wanted to accomplish, winning all three games and securing the top seed,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said after his team’s win Saturday. “We know we have to play better. Part of this tournament is it gets harder as you go.”
The traits the team has been developing for the past four weeks once again were on display in front of 27,000 fans at Stade Pierre Mauroy.
There is Kevin Durant, the devastating bench scorer.
Durant put up 11 points in yet another impactful reserve performance. He has 48 points total across the three games in Lille and is now just five points from setting the all-time American Olympic scoring record, which is currently held by women’s team great Lisa Leslie.
And when it wasn’t Durant, it was his second-unit cohort Anthony Edwards, who put in 15 points in his first 10 minutes on the floor and 26 for the game on 11-of-15 shooting. His breakaway windmill dunk in the fourth quarter will be one of the lasting memories from the USA games in Lille over the past week.
“I wanted to dunk on somebody, but I ain’t got a lane yet,” Edwards said. “So I’m glad I got that one.”
There was LeBron James, the timeless playmaker.
James started the past two games at point guard — Jrue Holiday sat out for precautionary reasons with a minor ankle injury — and has played his classic table-setting game. James had eight assists against Puerto Rico, finishing pool play with 21 total in three games. He also scored 10 points.
One of his favorite targets has been Edwards, who James set up several times on Saturday.
“KD and Bron man, they’re the best two people. I mean, team players. They always want to see the person next to him shine,” Edwards said. “I told Bron, ‘If you ain’t got no shot, I’ll find one.'”
There was the second unit, the haymaker.
The Americans were down by as many as eight points in the second quarter when the second unit hit the floor Saturday. By the time they exited roughly eight minutes of game time later, it has been turned around to a five-point lead. For the third straight game, their first-half shift changed the course of the game.
It was Anthony Davis, Derrick White and Bam Adebayo combining with Durant and Edwards on this day and that group is just backbreaking on the international stage. Their collective ball pressure, rim defense and rebounding was just too much for Puerto Rico to handle. No one has handled it yet.
Team USA is counting on these bench performances to continue through next week as it makes up the core of their game plan. But there were a few other projects going on as well. Saturday was a day clearly set up for Joel Embiid to get some momentum. After struggling in the opener against Serbia and then sitting against South Sudan, Embiid had a size advantage and his teammates wanted to make sure he got some touches.
The result was easily his best game of the Olympics as he put in 15 points with two blocks. He enjoyed the interaction with the French crowd, which booed him again for choosing to play for Team USA, which Embiid encouraged.
“At the end of the day, I think a lot of people think it’s hate. I see it as love and respect,” Embiid said. “If I wasn’t an OK basketball player, I would not receive that type of treatment and so I see myself as being blessed and that’s why I interact with them.”
Jayson Tatum, who spent the Olympic opener on the bench in a high-profile decision, started his second consecutive game and played strongly with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
Puerto Rico was led by New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado with 18 points.
Now, any loss would cost Team USA the gold.
“We know it’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be challenging,” James said. “We better be ready to go.”
