USA beats South Sudan 103-86 at Paris Olympics to clinch spot in men’s basketball quarterfinals
VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — In the rematch, the United States had an easier time defeating South Sudan than in their first meeting a few weeks ago.
Easier. Not easy.
The United States has clinched a spot in the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympic Games Beating South Sudan 103-86 on Wednesday night, a game that was never really in doubt but was not an easy one either. Bam Adebayo scored 18 points and Kevin Durant 14 for the Americans, who took control with a 25-4 first-half run.
And led by Adebayo, the American reserves scored 66 points.
“We’ve been called the bench crowd for a long time,” Adebayo said. “And it doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup. We always seem to find a way.”
Anthony Edwards scored 13 points and LeBron James added 12 for the United States. Nuni Omot led South Sudan with 21 points, while Carlik Jones scored 18 points and Bul Kuol added 16.
The win allowed the United States to advance to the round of 16 and become the top seed in Group C, which they joined Canada, France and Germany In the quarter-finals, seven teams are still in the running for the other four places in the quarter-finals. Only Puerto Rico, which will face the Americans on Saturday, is eliminated from the race for qualification.
That said, Saturday’s game — the first between Puerto Rico and the United States at the Olympics since an embarrassing 92-73 loss in Athens 20 years ago — is not without significance for the U.S. A 3-0 record in the group stage would give the Americans their best chance at a top-two berth in the round of 16 and, in theory, an easier matchup in the quarterfinals.
“That’s not the goal,” U.S. forward Anthony Davis said of reaching the quarterfinals. “It gives us a sense of satisfaction that we can play next week. But there’s a lot of things we can improve, a lot of things we can fix, and we’ll use Saturday’s game against Puerto Rico to tighten the screws and then we’ll see where it takes us.”
South Sudan completes group match against Serbia Saturday, a match that will have implications for both teams in the knockout stage. The quarter-final draw will take place on Saturday evening and the four quarter-final matches will be played on Tuesday in Paris.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task,” Jones said. “We’re still optimistic.”
South Sudan Coach Royal Ivey compared his life The French team was seen on film after winning its first Olympic match against Puerto Rico, which is completely understandable. The story of its team—from the world’s youngest country, a group that overcame absurd odds to qualify for the Paris Games—is a quintessential Olympic story, one that will be talked about for years to come, whether or not the African nation wins another match in France.
That said, if they almost beat the Americans in London on July 20 during an exhibition — the 101-100 match where James The United States had to be bailed out at the end — it was a movie, and then it was the sequel.
In the world of cinema, sequels are often not as good as the originals. Such was the case Wednesday.
The first few minutes after the opening credits weren’t bad — South Sudan led 7-6 and 10-8 — but the plot quickly became predictable. Durant hit a three-pointer with about a minute left in the first quarter for the first double-digit lead, Adebayo scored inside with 8:42 left in the half to cap what was a 25-4 run, the Americans were up 33-14, and there wasn’t much drama the rest of the way.
“They’re a talented team,” U.S. guard Stephen Curry said. “On any given night, they can beat anybody.”
South Sudan cut the deficit to 10 points in the third quarter, but the United States took a 73-57 lead in the final 10 minutes.
Most of the drama, as it happened, happened before the game. U.S. coach Steve Kerr made changes to his starting lineup, putting Davis and Jayson Tatum and pulled Jrue Holiday and Joel Embiid. Embiid didn’t play at all, while Tyrese Haliburton got his first playing time of the Olympics as the U.S. went with an 11-man rotation for the first half and took a 55-36 lead into the break.
South Sudan outscored the United States by two goals in the second half, but it ultimately didn’t matter.
“We have 12 players who are all capable of dominating,” Kerr said. “Every night is going to be a little different. But we have a good chance of winning because of the number of great players we have on our roster.”
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