The stands of the Arena Bercy are full for Team USA's first in Paris, for this quarter against Brazil.
Like in Lille, Joel Embiid is getting booed a lot, but as he has now decided to laugh about it, his teammates join in the responses. In any case, it doesn't bother the Sixers' pivot, who seems to be in better and better shape. It's the poor Brazilians who are paying the price, as the gap is growing very quickly.
At the end of the first quarter, the United States was already at +12 (33-21) and the match looked more like an exhibition than an Olympic quarter-final.
Fortunately, Brazil found some energy, thanks in particular to the eternal Marcelinho Huertas, who allowed the Seleçao to get back under the ten-point mark. Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum went for free throws to calm their opponents, and Joel Embiid made another 3-pointer to increase the gap.
Léon Marchand present in the room
The United States thus joins halftime at +27 (63-36) with a Joel Embiid who has already scored 14 points at 5/6 shooting including 3/3 from afar, plus 7 rebounds. Even better, the Philadelphia MVP was very mobile when the Americans decided to “switch” everything to extinguish the Brazilian attack.
With Snoop Dogg in the room, Steve Kerr goes without Joel Embiid to start the second half, with Bam Adebayo taking his place in the five. The coach asks his players to calm down and slow down a bit. While Devin Booker has the hot hand, LeBron James takes an elbow to the temple.
That didn't stop Team USA from rolling, with Kevin Durant overtaking Lisa Leslie to become the leading scorer for the United States, men and women combined, at the Olympic Games.
In a very long “garbage time”, the crowd gets excited when they realize that Léon Marchand is present in the room. On the court, Team USA rolls and wins by 35 points (122-87) to reach the semi-finals.
The United States will meet Nikola Jokic's Serbia there, who for their part beat Australia with much more difficulty.
Photo credit: FIBA
