The Men’s Olympic basketball tournament has kicked off, and four teams have already been eliminated from the tournament. Greece, Canada, Brazil, and Australia all fell today, knocking them out of medal contention. The remaining teams are set to play in the semi-final game on Thursday. As Germany faces off against the host country France at 11:30 AM ET. While the US will have a rematch against Serbia at 3:00 PM ET. You won't want to miss this one, with gold on the line anything can happen!
The USA is on its way to the semi-finals following an absolute blowout. Brazil never had a chance in this one, from tip off the US dominated the game. They shot lights out the entire game shooting 57% from the field, and 48% from 3. It was one of the biggest mismatches we have seen in the tournament so far. With a team built from the ground up on star power, the US simply overwhelmed Brazil. That’s not to say Brazil didn’t have some bright spots. Bruno Caboclo had a strong game putting up 30 points on Team USA. The former NBA player showed he still has something left in the tank despite not playing in the league for several years.
Other than Caboclo, the Brazilians struggled to find any success offensively. The US played smothering defense the entire game. With the 3 ball not falling, and the paint locked down, Brazil’s fate was sealed. Now that Brazil is officially out of the tournament, we finally have our semi-final round set.
The US will play Serbia with Nikola Jokic in the semi-finals this Thursday at 3:00 PM ET. After falling to the US in the group stage the Serbians get another crack at defeating the US. In their first meeting, Serbia gave the US a run for their money, before finally falling. Serbia remains one of the biggest threats to the US, however. With Jokic’s dominant performance in game one holding the Serbian team close. It was only the moments when Jokic went to the bench that team US took the lead and clinched the game. Now, with a medal on the line, there is a realistic chance that Jokic might just play the whole game.
In what became a rock fight of a game, the length and strength of France hitsnada on their heels. Victor Wembanyama was a defensive menace against Team Canada. Racking up 3 steals in just the first half, his length has proven challenging to crack for Team Canada. The French battered the Canadians down low too. Chalking up 45 free throw attempts by the end of the game, the Canadians were helpless to protect the paint.
Even though Canada managed to bulldozer their way through the group stage, they found their match against an elite French team. NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carried the team as hard as he could. He had 13 points at halftime on 50% shooting, finishing with 27. The rest of Team Canada was completely absent offensively. Unable to crack this long, athletic French team.
The second half was a tail of two teams, with Canada climbing back into the game, but never quite able to get over the mountain. RJ Barrett had some solid plays to bring the game into reach, but Evan Fournier took over in the 4th. He had an exclamation point of a 35-ft 3-point shot that kept Canada from overwhelming the lead. The game ended with France taking the game handily, 82 to 73. This ends Team Canada’s hopes of medaling after an epic run.
Team France will move on to the semi-finals, facing off against Germany. Scheduled for Thursday, August 8th at 11:30 PM ET.
The Greeks were unable to upset the star-studded German team even with NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo giving it his all. The game ended 76 to 63 with the Germans holding a commanding lead for much of the game following their slow start. Two faces NBA fans will recognize Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder led the German team to victory. Schroder particularly showed out today coming off the bench as the spark plug Germany needed. He racked up 13 points and 8 assists in his 31 minutes on the court.
Even though they fell to a stacked German team, Giannis left everything on the court today. Clocking in 34 minutes, he barely left the court. With a strong showing of 22 on solid shooting, the Greek team couldn’t knock down their shots. Coming out of the gates hot, they took the lead in the first 22 to 11. In what appeared to be a blowout in the making, Germany switched up the offense and put the Greeks on the run. After winning the first quarter, Greece never won another quarter the rest of the game.
With the quarter-final round all wrapped up, we can expect some exciting games for the semi-finals. Germany will be playing against the host country, France. It's a battle of the European powers, that is set to kick off Thursday the 8th at 11:30 AM ET.
In a nail-biter of a game, Serbia defeats Australia in extra time 95 to 90. Opening the game hot, Australia went on a blistering run early. Taking the lead 31 to 17 at the end of the first. They were led by an Olympic men’s basketball legend Patty Mills and Olympic newcomer Josh Giddey. This pair was the driving force of the Australian offense, taking a combined 41 out of 74 total shots. Both shot near 50% from the field, with Giddey showing his inexperience giving up 7 turnovers. The biggest moment of the day belongs to Mills, after making a clutch shot with 2 seconds left in the game spending it to overtime. However, it still wasn’t enough to topple the current NBA MVP’s home nation.
This couldn’t have been a more classic Nikola Jokic game. As a player, unrelenting consistency is his hallmark, and that’s exactly what we saw today. Trailing big in the first half, Serbia clawed back the lead methodically, as the Australian's offense crashed in the second half. Eventually, overtaking the Australians in the fourth to go up by 2 with 8 seconds left on the clock. The game felt in hand, but Patty Mills had other plans sending it to overtime. Even after heroics, Serbia continued their march to secure the game in OT.
With Serbia knocking Australia out, they'll be heading for a rematch against Team USA in the semi-finals. Don't miss it this Thursday the 8th at 3:00 PM ET.