John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA
United States vs Brazil: Olympic Games – Quarterfinals
The United States men’s basketball team will face off against Brazil in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics tournament at Accor Arena in Paris.
Team USA looks perfect
As expected, Team USA won all three games in the group stage in Lille. They started the tournament with a 110-84 win over Serbia, continued with a 103-86 win over South Sudan, and finished with a 104-83 win over Puerto Rico. Anthony Edwards was the leading scorer in the last one with 26 points while Joel Embiid had his best game of the tournament dropping 15 points.
Brazil barely made it through
Brazil lost the first two games in the tournament and needed a win and a certain outcome in the games in the other groups to make it to the quarterfinals. They did their part with a 102-84 win over Japan and the rest of the things worked in their favor. Former NBA player Bruno Caboclo was absolutely phenomenal in that game recording 33 points and 17 rebounds. In the first two matchdays, Brazil lost 86-73 to Germany and 78-66 to France.
Head-to-head
Interestingly, Brazil won the last two games against Team USA that were within the qualifiers for the last World Cup. It was 83-76 in Rio de Janeiro and 94-79 in Washington DC. Team USA’s last win over Brazil was in the group stage of the 2019 FIBA World Cup when the score was 89-73. This will be their first game at the Olympics.
Prediction and Conclusion
Team USA cruised past all the competition in the group stage of the tournament, and they were not even pushing hard. Things are heating up now as the knockout stage begins and the basketball tournament moves from Lille to Paris. Coach Steve Kerr gave chances to all the players, except maybe Jayson Tatum, and his long roster is something that no team can keep up with. Brazil is coached by Aco Petrovic, the brother of the late and great Drazen Petrovic. He has done a good job with the team, which has former NBA player Bruno Caboclo as its main star. Yago dos Santos is the point guard on the team, whose shooting and quickness may be a problem for Team USA. However, Brazil is not a serious threat for Team USA, and Steve Kerr’s team will win this one by covering the -26.5-point spread.
