Basketball – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 8
Now things get serious.
Olympic men’s basketball has moved from Lille in the north of France to the spotlight of Paris and, more importantly, we have moved on to the knockout round — lose and go home. Win and advance to play for medals.
The USA has been dominant through the group stage, going 3-0 and winning by an average of 21.4 points a game while never truly feeling threatened. LeBron James has looked like the tournament MVP, the American defenders have been on a string, and Anthony Edwards (16.7 points per game) and Kevin Durant (16) lead an overwhelming offense. The Americans are having fun and putting on a show.
Who is the biggest threat to keep the USA from stepping to the top of the podium and winning gold?
Honestly, it’s the USA itself — if they come out flat or don’t take an opponent seriously, they could beat themselves in the one-and-done portion of the tournament. What teams could benefit? Let’s rank the seven remaining on chances they can beat the USA in one game.
1. Germany
If LeBron isn’t the Olympics MVP so far, it’s Dennis Schroder — 19.7 points and 9 assists a game, shooting 40.9% from 3. Pair him with Orlando’s rising star Franz Wagner (21.7 points and 5 rebounds a game) and you have a talented core of a deep team that knows how to play together — remember Germany won the FIBA World Cup last summer. Germany has done it with defense, allowing 73.7 points a game — 8.6 per game fewer than any other team (part of that is pace; Germany is deliberate, whereas the USA prefers to play up-tempo, which means more shots for the opponent, too).
Germany’s other advantage is that it plays Greece in the first knockout-round game. While that means facing Giannis Antetokounmpo (leading the Olympics at 27 points a game), the team around the Greek Freak has struggled and the Greeks snuck into the knockout round with a 1-2 record. The Germans should move on to the final four in a strong position. They wouldn’t see the USA until the gold medal game, where they would have a puncher’s chance in one game.
2. Canada
We knew going into the Olympics that Canada had the…
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