The defending champions of men’s basketball at the Olympics, the United States, defeated South Sudan 103-86 on Wednesday, thanks in large part to 18 points from Bam Adebayo. This victory propelled them into the quarterfinals of the competition.
Team USA has never lost against an African team in the Olympics, but on July 20, in a warm-up match in London, they had a scare. But, LeBron James gave the United States, who were going for their fifth straight gold medal, a flying start in the first quarter and never looked back, so there was never any chance of an upset in Lille.
After sitting on the bench for the whole of Sunday’s opening victory over Serbia, coach Steve Kerr started Jayson Tatum’s US debut. As Adebayo had the better of the play, Joel Embiid had to sit out the entire evening. The Miami Heat center made eight of ten shots overall, including his opening six.
James finished with 12 points, and Kevin Durant added 14 points, putting on another impressive shooting performance following his injury comeback against Serbia.
“You’ve got guys from all ages in the league that (have) accomplished so much, but they’re all unselfish players who want the best for the team,” said Durant.
Devin Booker, Derrick White, Anthony Edwards, and others all scored in double figures, but Stephen Curry had a difficult night as he only managed three points. Despite South Sudan’s valiant efforts to stay in the game, the US led 55-36 at the half and the Olympic newbies were never able to close the gap to less than 10 points.
“I think a team like this we need to put our foot on the gas for 40 minutes straight,” added Durant, a three-time gold medallist.
Coached by former NBA player Royal Ivey, Nuni Omot led South Sudan with a game-high 24 points, while Carlik Jones chipped in with 18.
The US is already assured of making it to the final eight after winning two of their first three games in Group C. Germany, Canada, and the host nation, France, had already guaranteed their spot in the quarterfinals.
South Sudan is still in a strong position to go to the knockout stage after defeating Puerto Rico in their Olympic debut. Earlier on Wednesday, Serbia defeated Puerto Rico 107-66 to decisively recover from their first-round setback to the United States.
The three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic finished with 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 9 assists, narrowly missing a triple-double.