More than a month ago, the Brazilian basketball team still did not have tickets to compete in the 2024 Olympics in hand. They had to enter a series of qualifying matches to compete for the final tickets to the Olympics and were rated much lower than the home team at that time, Latvia.
But then the magical journey began with an away win to seal the Olympic spot, then sneaking through the narrow window to pass the group stage thanks to the position of the 3rd place team with the best performance.
This achievement 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 opportunity to continue writing history. Only to do that, they will have to defeat the “giant” called the American basketball team. The quarterfinal match will take place at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 7.
Long throws are one of the great strengths of the team from South America. They are averaging 11 3-pointers made 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 rebounding team in the tournament and always show how determined they are” , the US coach commented on the opponent.
Up to now, Brazil has only one player playing in the NBA, young striker 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 is translated into effectiveness on the field when Brazil always plays stubbornly, passionately but no less calmly. The team of players with many veteran names also proved to be very evenly matched with up to 6 people scoring an average of over 8 points/match in the group stage.
Along with a 45% success rate from outside the 3-point range, Brazil also has an average of 13 offensive rebounds per match at this year’s Olympics, hitting right at the US team’s weaknesses.
“Along with the rebound dispute is having many quality shooters. This can bring many difficulties and is ready to punish any opponent who is negligent in recovering the ball . Coach Steve Kerr added.
“We will have to be ready for a style of play with many collisions with our opponents, ready for fierce disputes. I know for sure that Brazil will not give up and always has a very high fighting spirit. So we have to find a way to play with more fire and enthusiasm than them.”
Captain LeBron James also shared his perfectionism despite knowing that the US is rated much higher than Brazil: “This is a team that has a system and plays very disciplined in both attack and defense. We have to be careful in this match.”
The match between the US and Brazil is the latest of the four 2024 Olympic men’s basketball quarterfinal matches, with tip-off at 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday (August 7). Previously on August 6, Germany faced 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.
