PARIS — If there’s one factor Joel Embiid has realized through the Olympics, it is that the French can boo him however nobody right here can cease him from doing the crotch chop.
The American heart’s consolation degree in coping with adversity mirrored that of the remainder of his teammates Tuesday as Group USA placed on a clinic in a 122-87 quarterfinal victory over Brazil.
The U.S. is now two wins from a fifth consecutive gold medal and is about up for an additional assembly with Serbia within the semifinals on Thursday.
Kevin Durant added 11 factors for Group USA, passing legend Lisa Leslie for essentially the most factors in American Olympic historical past.
Not solely did Embiid snicker his approach by means of the jeers from these nonetheless irritated that he handed on France’s provide to hitch its nationwide crew. He was all too completely satisfied to tug out certainly one of his favourite celebrations with the WWE-inspired chop maneuver. Embiid has been fined twice — for $60,000 — for the transfer by the NBA, however on this evening, league commissioner Adam Silver was at Bercy Enviornment solely as a fan.
“Oh no, they nonetheless may discover a approach [to fine me], however that felt good,” Embiid mentioned with a smile. “It is good to have enjoyable too, as a result of on the finish of the day, you bought to take one thing out of this expertise.”
The U.S. wanted some manufacturing from Embiid in opposition to a Brazil crew with a robust entrance line. He was dominant proper from the beginning, cleansing the glass successfully and exhibiting off his traditional mixture of inside and perimeter scoring.
In 12 devastating minutes of labor within the first half, Embiid put in 14 factors with seven rebounds. Brazil was helpless in coping with him as he made 5 of 6 photographs, together with two 3-pointers. The boos from the followers ebbed, which solely appeared to encourage Embiid to ask for extra of them.
Embiid did have a minor ankle flip, and he sat the second half as a precaution.
The antics had been a part of the low-stress night Group USA hoped for, particularly after seeing underdogs apply all kinds of stress through the day, together with France upsetting Canada simply because the Individuals had been arriving on the area.
With Tuesday’s 35-point victory, Group USA has gained every of its first 4 video games right here by no less than 15 factors, marking the primary time a U.S. males’s crew has carried out so because the 2008 Redeem Group, in response to ESPN Stats & Info analysis.
Durant, who entered the sport 5 factors behind Leslie because the U.S. Olympic scoring chief, completed the day with 494 factors for his profession.
“Information are supposed to be damaged, so anyone will come alongside and do the identical to me,” Durant mentioned. “My focus is on making an attempt to win this gold.”
All in all, it was a superb show of precision basketball led by LeBron James, who’s steadily assembling a case for Olympic MVP. James was the catalyst for a formidable show of selfless offense, throwing an array of jaw-dropping passes that led to simple baskets for his teammates.
Probably the most memorable occurred simply earlier than the top of the primary half on an inbounds go. From half courtroom, James threw a no-look frozen rope that threaded a good window between Brazilian defenders and ended up completely within the palms of Jayson Tatum for an alley-oop.
“We had a play, however he simply checked out me, so I knew he was doing the backdoor,” Tatum mentioned. “That was a hell of a go. He put it proper on the cash, so he made it simple for me.”
James has thrown some passes for the scrapbook already through the Paris Video games, and all he did Tuesday was pile up 9 assists in simply 12 minutes to go along with 12 factors on 5-of-6 capturing. The one factor holding it from being an ideal evening was an elbow.
Brazil’s Georginho De Paula caught James above the left eye going for a rebound halfway by means of the third quarter, opening up a minimize. James exited to the locker room, the place he bought 4 stitches, and didn’t return to the sport. It’s not anticipated to value him any extra time.
James’ lead was infectious as Group USA displayed maybe its finest ball motion of the summer season. The Individuals had 18 assists on their first 19 baskets.
“For a man who really is a degree ahead at coronary heart, for him to be the main scorer in NBA historical past when that is sort of the secondary factor that he does, he is loopy,” Group USA coach Steve Kerr mentioned. “However that is LeBron.”
Devin Booker, who has been one of many Individuals’ steadiest gamers, ended up main the crew in scoring with 18 factors on 6-of-9 capturing.
Brazil was fueled by former NBA participant Bruno Caboclo, who had 24 factors.