VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Halfway to its goal of gold, the U.S. has the No. 1 seed going into the medal round at the Paris Olympics.
And now the real games start.
Anthony Edwards scored 26 points, six players reached double figures for the U.S. and the Americans wrapped up the top spot coming out of group play by rolling past Puerto Rico 104-83 on Saturday. A huge second-quarter run was the difference for the U.S., which is trying to medal for the 20th time in 20 Olympic appearances.
“I think we got done what we wanted to accomplish, winning all three games and securing the top seed,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “We know we have to play better. Part of this tournament is it gets harder as you go. Our goal is just to try to get better each game.”
The Americans — 3-0 in these Olympics, 8-0 so far this summer — will see Brazil in the win-or-go-home quarterfinals in Paris on Tuesday.
“We better be ready to go,” U.S. forward LeBron James said.
Joel Embiid scored 15 points for the U.S. Kevin Durant scored 11 points for the U.S. to get within five of matching Lisa Leslie for the all-time Olympic scoring record for the U.S.; he’s at 483, and Leslie finished her career with 488 in Olympic play.
James finished with 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds in 18 minutes. Jayson Tatum had 10 points and 10 rebounds while Anthony Davis scored 10 for the U.S., which sat Jrue Holiday for precautionary reasons because of an ankle that he rolled in the Americans’ win over South Sudan on Wednesday. Holiday will play in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Kerr said.
Jose Alvarado led Puerto Rico (0-3) with 18 points. Ismael Romero scored 12 and Aleem Ford finished with 10.
It was the first Olympic matchup between the nations since the Athens Games in 2004, when Puerto Rico ran away in the second quarter and went on to embarrass the U.S. 92-73 in what was James’ debut in the tournament.
Little different story this time.
That day in Athens, Puerto Rico won the second quarter 28-7. This time, the U.S. won the second quarter 39-16. Give Puerto Rico credit; a team that came into Saturday knowing it was eliminated from contention took an eight-point lead late in the first quarter and still led 37-36 with 5:45 left in the half.
The rest of the half: U.S. 28, Puerto Rico 8. The run was quick and decisive.
“I think our talent took over in the second quarter and we started to wear them down,” Kerr said. “Our defense kicked in and we had a great quarter, which opened up the game.”
James had all six of his first-half assists during that burst and the Americans took a 64-45 lead into the break. He finished the flurry with a dunk in the final seconds, ran by his 2004 Athens teammate Dwyane Wade — now commentating for NBC, sitting courtside — while yelling something with a big smile and from there the countdown to wrapping up the No. 1 seed was officially on.
As would be expected, really.
It’s been three games, three easy wins for the Americans so far in France: a 26-point opening victory over Serbia, a 17-point win over South Sudan to clinch the top spot in Group C, and then Saturday’s game against Puerto Rico that once it got one-sided it stayed that way.
And in every game so far in France, it has been someone new leading the way, at least on the scoring front. Against Serbia, Durant had 23 and James had 21. Against South Sudan, Bam Adebayo scored 18. On Saturday, it was Edwards getting 26.
That’s by design.
“It’s weird because Ant goes off tonight, Bam went off the other night, KD the night before that, Bron’s been consistent the whole time,” U.S. guard Stephen Curry said. “Everybody else, you find your place with where shots are coming from. It’s not like anybody is taking over every possession. So it’s just a matter of staying locked in. You might touch the ball once or twice in a quarter, but you’ve got to be ready to take advantage of it.”
