Team USA has overcome the shakiness of their pre-Olympic form and dominated at the tournament so far, winning their first three matches convincingly before qualifying for the quarter-finals. They’ll be facing Brazil in the next round, with USA head coach Steve Kerr breaking down why Brazil could be one of their toughest opponents yet.
“They’re very physical. I think they’re the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the tournament. They’ve got a lot of really good shooters, and they just play hard. They compete play after play, so we’ll have to be ready for their physicality and their shooting, and we need to be on edge and ready for them because they’re not going to back down.”
Kerr painted a positive picture of the Brazilians, but his comments shouldn’t distract from the fact that this is a colossal mismatch through most measurable metrics. Team USA is currently averaging more than 25 points per game at Paris 2024 (105.7) than Brazil (80.3), which shows there are galaxies between their offensive talents.
In addition, even with Team USA’s clunky passing and turnover-prone style of play, Brazil leads the Olympics in turnovers. They don’t have any active players on the roster but have multiple former players, including star Bruno Caboclo, who was once hailed as the Brazilian Kevin Durant.
LeBron James also shared his thoughts on the Brazil matchup but kept it brief.
“I’ve watched all the games. They’re very dedicated to their offensive and defensive systems.”
Team USA beat Serbia and South Sudan before polishing off Puerto Rico in their final group stage game to emphatically qualify for the next stage. Brazil were easily beaten by Germany and France in the group stage but progressed on score differential based on their win over Japan.
Opponents Know Team USA Has A Greater Margin For Error
Team USA doesn’t have to worry too much about what their opponents can or can’t do, because if they execute to their best ability, the USA are unstoppable. Opposing teams know this, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recently speaking about how teams need to play the perfect game to beat the USA while the red-white-and-blue also enjoys the greatest margin for error.
“[Team USA] play to their strengths. They’re obviously very talented and very deep. You almost have to make no mistakes and play a perfect game when you play against them which is what the rest of the world expected. As far as Canada, we’ll be ready for whoever we see.”
The talent on Team USA makes it so that every team they face needs to play their best possible game to even have a shot at competing with Team USA. Even in those cases, the USA can afford to make mistakes and rely on talent, as seen in their exhibition wins over Australia, South Sudan, and Germany.
Team USA is historically dominant at the Olympics and hasn’t given anyone reasons for concern just yet. They’ll be hoping to beat Brazil tomorrow and wait for the winner of Australia vs. Serbia to see which of the two teams they faced in Abu Dhabi will be their semi-final opponents.
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