Four teams remain in the Paris 2024 Olympic men’s basketball tournament following an exciting quarter-finals day in the French capital.
Hosts France stamped their authority early, advancing to the semi-finals with an 82-73 win over Canada.
A powerful first quarter set the tone, as Canada were bombarded from the start following a 23-10 start from their European counterparts.
Canada, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and RJ Barrett, found their groove in the second half, but by then, the deficit was too much.
Guershon Yabusele, who was inserted into the starting five in a shuffle from coach Vincent Collet, repaid the favor given to him by scoring 22 points off 6/9 shooting.
Gilgeous-Alexander led Canada with 27 but was frustrated in the first quarter, where he was heavily marked by Nicolas Batum, which led to France’s strong start.
The French will meet world champions Germany in the last four as they ousted Greece 76-63 in their quarter-final.
However, the Germans had to bounce back from a slow start. They only scored 11 points and trailed an energetic Greek side by double digits.
But once the second period began, Germany was all business, knotting the game at 36-36 at the half, canceling out Greece’s good start.
With the game all to play for, Germany took the advantage, and even with the game still undecided in the third, Dennis Schroder – who hadn’t had his best game – stepped up.
With the game locked at 50-50, Schroder put his body on the line, drawing a charge from Giannis Antetokounmpo for his third foul of the game.
That changed the complexion of matters, and from there the Germans never looked back.
“I played terrible offensively, so I had to do something,” Schroder said.
“I’ve seen him in the first half, I watch a lot of film, I watch a lot games and I know what he likes to do. Calathes gave him the ball, and I knew he was gonna do the Eurostep. It was a great play, but it’s not about individuals. It’s the team that set the tone.”
Franz Wagner led the way with 18 points for Germany. Antetokounmpo had 22 for Greece.
Serbia overturned a record-breaking 24-point deficit to beat a shell-shocked Australia 95-90 after overtime.
The extra five minutes was momentary heartache for the 2016 silver medalists, as Patty Mills denied them a regulation win with just over a second to play.
Thanks to Nikola Jokic, though, Serbia powered through overtime to advance to the last four. Jokic was one assist shy of a triple-double, posting 21 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists.
Serbia’s win sets up a mouthwatering semi-final clash against the USA, a rematch of their opening group game in Lille.
In their quarter-final match-up, the USA had little trouble brushing aside Brazil 122-87.
On a day filled with drama and close finishes, the U.S. made sure they didn’t feel any kind of pressure, racing ahead early on and never looking back.
Devin Booker led a balanced scoring effort with 18 points, with Anthony Edwards adding 17.
