Team USA Went America All Over Brazil's Asses And Breeze Through To The Semifinals

Gregory Shamus. Getty Images.

Now that the fun and games of the Group Stage are over and we're into the single elimination portion of this tournament, it's time for Team USA to get serious. What does that mean exactly? Simple

Look, this isn't about beating Brazil. It's not even really about kicking the shit out of Brazil. We all knew both things were going to happen. Up until this point of the Olympics, I've been pretty adamant that we hadn't even come close to seeing Team USA play to their full potential. Sure they were blowing teams out by 20+, but they weren't playing their best basketball. I think most people were wondering if they'd be able to "flip a switch" now that we'd entered the knockout stage, and I'd say that's pretty much exactly what happened today.

When things move to single elimination, there's no room to screw around. You can't play half ass basketball for a quarter and then figure it out later, you need to be locked in right from the opening tip. These next three games are about how quickly Team USA can break their opponent's spirit, and they didn't waste much time today. There was no overlooking their opponent and giving them life by playing slow or being careless with the basketball. There was no screwing around offensively or a lack of effort defensively. Team USA punched first, and Brazil never got close to recovering.

By far their best performance of the Olympics, this is closer to what Team USA looks like at their ceiling. Every single player that touched the floor played well, they scored 122 points in a 40-minute game while shooting 58/48% splits with 15 3PM, and they only turned the ball over 11 times. It's not that complicated, if Team USA is going to shoot like this, defend like this, and take care of the ball like this, nobody left in the field is touching them. 

Of course, their next game against Serbia is going to be roughly 100000000x tougher than what they just experienced against Brazil, but that's fine. Team USA can be even better. Remember, we still haven't had that dominant Steph performance yet, White/Tatum combined to go 2-11, and LeBron did have 4 TOs before he got hit in the eye. It wouldn't shock me if they all bounce back against Serbia, and considering there's a pretty drastic difference between going up against Bruno Caboclo and Nikola Jokic I'd say it's going to be needed.

Some other thoughts about what else stood out from this absolute ass kicking….

- It's close, but if you were to try and rank who the best players have been so far in these games, I think the list has to start with LeBron. The turnover issues are a bit concerning for when they play tougher competition, but it's hard to ask for any more from LeBron than what he's giving you up until this point.

His passing has been tremendous, his ability to get downhill and finish at the rim has been unstoppable since the tune up games, and we're even getting actual effort defensively at times which is the icing on the cake. It hasn't really mattered who Team USA has played so far, once LeBron makes his decision that he's getting to the rim/scoring, there hasn't been a team in the field that's been able to stop him. Now we just need it for 2 more games.

- There's been a lot of focus on guys like LeBron, KD, Ant etc, but in my opinion there should be just as much praise for Devin Booker and how he's played ever since the tune up games. His role on this roster is simple. Move the ball, and when you find yourself with an open C&S look, you take that shit with confidence and bury it. He's the floor spacing off ball shooter, and that role requires you to shoot at a pretty high clip to keep the defense honest and the driving lanes open for everyone else.

To say Booker has been delivering in that role doesn't really do it just

At this point, Booker has more than earned his starting spot. At the very least, he hasn't played his way out of it. Eventually, Team USA is going to face a team that gets hot from three, and it's guys like Booker who are going to need to weather that storm and punch back from behind the arc. As long as Steph is still going to be shooting 24% from deep, Booker and KD are going to have to carry the load.

- This was also easily the best performance of the Olympics for Joel Embiid. If he's going to get crushed for when he looks like dogshit, then he should also be praised for when he looks dominant. Defensively he's still a little slow which forced Steve Kerr to play a ton of drop coverage in his minutes which didn't go all that well, but everything else? Elite. The jumper was pure, he was engaged, he only had that one bad TO when he got doubled on the first possession, overall it was exactly what Joel Embiid should do against a frontline like Brazil. 

We now get another Embiid vs Jokic rematch, and it's a chance for Embiid to get his payback after Jokic gave him the business in their Group Stage game. A matchup like this is why Embiid is on the roster, so him coming off his best performance to date has me feeling better about how that might go.

- It remains extremely unfair that opposing countries have to pick their poison in a lineup that consists of both Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant.

In one corner, you have Ant who has been shooting/scoring the ball with ease. When he comes in the game you know the shots are going up, but if he's going to continue to shoot 60% or better, I say keep them coming. As long as his looks come within the flow of the game and it doesn't feel like he's hijacking things in order to get his FGA, play through Ant as much as you can and ride this wave

Then in the other corner, you have this fella named Kevin Durant, you know, the greatest scorer in US Olympic history. Good luck!

One day we'll properly appreciate Kevin Durant. At least that's my hope.

In the end, all Team USA did today was what they were expected to do. Come out with this same effort and execution against Serbia, and it's onto the Gold Medal game.

4 wins down, 2 wins to go