With Olympic pool play now complete, the men’s basketball quarterfinal matchups have been determined. All four games will take place Tuesday, and the competition will be single-elimination from now on.
Germany will face Greece at 5 a.m. Eastern time, followed by Serbia vs. Australia at 8:30 a.m., France vs. Canada at noon and the U.S. vs. Brazil at 3:30 p.m. The Germany-Greece winner will face the France-Canada winner in one semifinal, with the Serbia-Australia winner taking on the U.S.-Brazil winner in the other.
It’s the best possible draw for Team USA, which clinched the top seed with a 21-point win over Puerto Rico earlier today. The Americans, who were 3-0 in Group C, won’t have to face the unbeaten Germans or Canadians or the host French until the gold medal game.
They’ll start with a Brazilian team that went 1-2 in Group B, with its only win coming against Japan. Vitor Benite is Brazil’s leading scorer in the Olympics at 14.3 PPG, while Bruno Caboclo leads in rebounds at 7.3 per game and Yago Santos is tops in assists at 6.0 per game.
Germany breezed through the competition in Group B, compiling a +47 point differential that was second only to Team USA. Led by Dennis Schröder, Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner, the reigning FIBA world champions are trying to cement their place as an international basketball power. To advance, they’ll have to get by a Greek team led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has been dominant in the Olympics, averaging 27.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists in three games.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic leads Serbia, which went 2-1 in Group C and lost only to the United States. Jock Landale has been Australia’s top player so far, averaging 17.7 points and 9.7 rebounds, but the Boomers feature a roster loaded with NBA talent such as Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Dante Exum and Patty Mills.
Canada, which is trying to win its first-ever Olympic basketball medal, also has a roster packed with NBA players. RJ Barrett (21.0 PPG), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (19.0) and Dillon Brooks (14.3) have been the leading scorers as they swept through Group A, which was billed as the toughest grouping. The host French have been mildly disappointing, even at 2-1, but they’ll have a chance to exploit the size of Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert against the smaller Canadian team.
The perks of being #1 seed that Brazil match is easy. Brazil will play hard, but don’t have the endgame talent to last.
The France vs Canada is the headliner.
Germany, Australia, Canada, US
Australia aren’t beating Serbia. Not sure it’s a good idea selecting guys from inferior leagues over nba and euroleague guys. What does Reath have to do to get on the court, I mean the guys playing infront of him are playing in Australia and Japan lol. Here I was thinking Reath next to Landale would work, what do I know. Apparently the Japanese league is very good (sarcasm).
At some point there has to be a conversation or an article or something about how Spain blew their chances of medaling by not knowing/understanding that point differential matters in this tournament. They fouled Shai with less than 3 seconds left & he hit the 2 free throws that eliminated them from the knockout rounds & let Greece take their place.
Actually, Spain could only advance with a win. Points lost didnt matter in that group, as they would have had same win/loss as Australia and Greece and in case of a tie with 3 the point differentials with those 3 are taken into account. Points against Canada didnt matter.
I think this is wrong, Germany-Greece winner will meet Serbia-Australia winner in the semis
Actually I was wrong
Those times are wrong. You are using Paris time, not US eastern time.
They must’ve fixed the times because they are correct (except the typo of 830pm–should be a.m.). Having said that, the US will be playing at 930pm in Paris. kinda late for a 1 seed.
They hired AI instead.
Semifinals…
GER v CAN
USA v SER
Final
CAN v USA
GM USA
SM CAN
BM SER
There is no way Serbia beats Australia… Aussies have their measure and will reach semis at worst