The men’s Olympic Basketball preliminary round has just wrapped up today and here is everything you need to know about the United States Olympic team moving forward. The United States went 3 for 3 with victories over Serbia on July 28, South Sudan on July 31, and Puerto Rico on August 3rd. Team USA won every single one of these games in dramatic fashion scoring over 100 points in every campaign. Team USA is moving on as the number 1 seed in the knockout round. The quarterfinals games will all be played on Tuesday, August 6th at various times. The United States will be taking on Brazil at 3:30 that day so make sure to tune in and show your support! Then the semifinal games will both be played on Thursday, August 8th and the bronze medal game as well as gold medal game both be played on Saturday, August 10th. Team USA are heavy favorites to win the gold as they have won each of the past four Olympics men’s basketball tournaments and anything short of gold is a disappointment, especially since this has been debated to be the best men’s basketball Olympic team in the country’s history.
Today’s victory was very clearly led by shooting guard Anthony Edwards, who played as the number one option on the team scoring exactly a fourth of the teams points having 26 points and going 11 of 14 shooting, despite not being one of the team’s starters. Edwards paved the path to victory with breakaway dunks and multiple soaring layups along with some snipes for three-pointers as well. As Dwyane Wade put it “Anthony Edwards was giving them everything”. Anthony Edwards soared like an eagle scoring buckets left and right as he catapulted through the air towards the basket time and time again. As Anthony said in an interview following the game “It’s the best feeling ever, it’s a dream come true…I’m making the most of it.”. ANT has clearly brought energy to a USA team as a dynamic young player and leader willing to do whatever it takes to see his country get the gold. Anthony Edward’s doesn’t want to just sit on the bench and take it easy watching his teammates take the country to the promise land, he wants to be the star in action carrying the country and his team to victory with the entirety of America’s eyes on number 5. Many people have asked the question of who is going to be the face of the NBA once LeBron retires, in my eyes it is none other than Anthony Edward’s. The young American playmaker with jaw dropping athleticism who’s a true leader of men and is sure to show everyone just how great he is. If Anthony Edwards keeps up performances like he had today against Puerto Rico with poster dunks and windmill slams carrying team USA to victory, then Edwards is sure to take the hearts of young athletes across the states as someone to be idolized for a long time to come.
As for the players not named Anthony Edwards, Joel Embiid had a fantastic game today finishing with 15 points. Embiid has seemingly taken on the role of the villain for the United States as people have debated if Joel should even be on team USA since he is Cameroonian as well as having a previous performance that had Americans booing him to get off the court. Embiid adopted that persona and used it as fuel to have his best game of the 3 game series. Jayson Tatum, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant have also kept some consistency as key contributors for the USA. Jayson Tatum especially showed up today with a double double 10 points and 10 rebounds. Lebron and Durant scored 10 and 11 respectively against Puerto Rico, and they were the highlight machines in the team’s first matchup against South Sudan.
As stated before, the next team that the United States will take on will be Brazil in the quarterfinals, who are led by Bruno Caboclo who’s been averaging 17.8 points a game. For the fans at home hoping to watch the quarterfinal game you can tune in on NBC, the USA Network, or Peacock as well as watch it streamed live at nbcolympics.com. There are plenty more highlight performances to come throughout the Olympic games and the best of team USA’s competition is yet to face off against America, as Canada led by Shai Gileous-Alexander and France led by Victor Wembanyama pose as genuine threats to potentially dethrone the United States.