More than a month ago, the Brazilian basketball team did not even have a ticket to the 2024 Olympics in hand. They had to enter the qualifying round to compete for the last tickets to the Olympics and were rated much lower than the host team, Latvia.
But then the magical journey began with an away win to seal a spot at the Olympics, then narrowly missed the group stage as the best third-placed team.
This feat was achieved thanks to an impressive victory over Japan, where the Brazilian team exploded with 17 3-pointers to defeat the Asian representative with a score of 102-84.
Now Brazil will have the chance to continue writing history. Only to do that, they will have to defeat the “giant” called the US basketball team. The quarterfinal match will take place at 2:30 am on Wednesday, August 7.
Long-range shooting is one of the South American team’s big strengths. They are averaging 11 3-pointers per game with a 45% 3PT success rate.
But it doesn’t stop there, Brazil has another special “weapon” that the US team must be wary of: offensive rebounds. Coach Steve Kerr is concerned about this and shared it with the press in the most recent training session.
“Brazil always plays with the spirit of having nothing to lose. They are the best offensive rebound team in the tournament and always show how determined they are,” the US head coach commented on his opponent.
As of now, Brazil only has one player playing in the NBA, young forward Gui Santos (Golden State Warriors). But in return, they have many former NBA players and a very experienced squad, led by former Lakers captain Marcelo Huertas.
This translates into efficiency on the pitch as Brazil always plays with grit, passion but also composure. The squad with many veteran names also shows great balance when 6 players scored an average of over 8 points/match in the group stage.
Along with a 45% success rate from beyond the 3-point line, Brazil also averaged 13 offensive rebounds per game at this year’s Olympics, hitting the US team right in the face.
“Along with the rebounding game is having a lot of quality shooters. This can bring a lot of difficulties and be ready to punish any opponent who is not careful in recovering the ball,” added coach Steve Kerr.
“We will have to be ready for a game with a lot of collisions with our opponents, ready to fight fiercely. I know for sure that Brazil will not give up and always have a very high fighting spirit. Therefore, we must find a way to play more fiercely and enthusiastically than them.”
Captain LeBron James also shared his perfectionism despite knowing that the US is rated much higher than Brazil: “This is a team with a system and plays very disciplined in both attack and defense. We have to be careful in this match.”
The USA-Brazil match is the latest of the four men’s basketball quarterfinals at the 2024 Olympics, with a tip-off at 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday (August 7). Before that, on August 6, Germany will face Greece at 4:00 p.m., Serbia will meet Australia at 6:30 p.m. and host France will face Canada at 10:15 p.m.
