Now that the group stage has ended in Lille, the eight teams still in the men's draw will no longer have the right to make a mistake in Paris: they must win or their dreams of an Olympic podium will disappear. Present in the part of the draw with Serbia and Australia, Team USA will first have to get rid of the Brazil in the quarter-finals on Tuesday (9:30 p.m.), before thinking about a possible semi-final.
In the American camp, they do not want to disrespect the Brazilians who, between the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) and the group stage of the Olympic Gamesare used to playing these matches where elimination awaits them.
” They are very physical » analysis Already Steve Kerr. ” I think they're the best team in the tournament in offensive rebounding. They have a lot of really good shooters and they play hard. They're always fighting so we'll have to be ready for their physicality and their shooting. We'll have to be on our toes and ready to go at them because they're not going to back down from us.. »
A marathon, not a sprint
On the side of LeBron Jameswho seems to fear Canada and Germany above all, we share in any case the opinion of the United States coach.
” I watched all their games and they are very committed to their offensive and defensive systems. ” sums up the American captain, visibly more excited by the Brazil of Bruno Caboclo, Marcelo Huertas, Cristiano Felicio, Raul Neto and Gui Santos than by France.
Listening to Steve Kerr, there is clearly no question of looking beyond this quarter-final and seeing ourselves as too good, too quickly.
” In the spirit of the Olympics and the marathon/sprint metaphor I've used before, I'd call it an 800m. ” said the Warriors coach. ” We run really hard, but it's not a 100m. »
Photo credit: FIBA.com
