AMERICANS THROUGH TO QUARTERS; ARGENTINES BOOK LAST SLOT
SAITAMA—The United States clinched a quarterfinal berth in Olympic men’s basketball on Saturday as seedings for next week’s last eight showdowns took shape.
Kevin Durant led Team USA to a commanding 119-84 victory against the Czech Republic in the final group game at Saitama Super Arena, north of Tokyo.
The United States ended the preliminaries with a 2-1 record after dropping their first match to France, the first Olympic loss for the Americans since 2004.
“We’re all just trying to figure each other out. This is literally our third game with all of us together,” said Jrue Holiday, who plays for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Milwaukee Bucks. “But we knew KD would come in and do what he always does.”
Team USA started slowly against the Czech team and were trailing at the end of the first quarter. But the Americans pulled away in the second half on a barrage of three-pointers from Durant and Jayson Tatum.
In earlier matches, France and Australia completed sweeps of their preliminary groups.
Real Madrid’s Thomas Heurtel led with 16 points in France’s 79-62 victory over Iran. They went 3-0 in Group A, including their shock defeat of Team USA on Sunday.
Despite his team’s dominant showing so far,
Evan Fournier would not speculate on France’s chances of a medal.
“Quarterfinal first. Focus on that,” said Fournier, who plays for the NBA’s Boston Celtics. “Too many times we’ve beaten very, very good teams and we lost in the semifinal, so no more of that.”
Scintillating Mills
Australia’s Patty Mills was scintillating behind the threepoint line, powering his team to an 89-76 victory over Germany in Group B.
Durant took two records from Carmelo Anthony, becoming both the US Olympic men’s all-time points and all-time field goals leader.
Having lost their opening game to France, the victory against the Czechs guaranteed that the Americans will avoid any of the three group winners until at least the semifinals.
Argentina snagged the last playoff spot on Sunday, ending the medal aspirations of host nation Japan.
Argentina dominated from the three-point line and contained Japan star Rui Hachimura to just 13 points, his lowest haul of the tournament. The 97-77 win against Japan lifted Argentina to 1-2.