All the favored teams in the first three men's basketball quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics had problems. Canada lost to France. Serbia erased a 24-point deficit to beat Australia. Germany had to shake off a double-digit deficit before beating Greece.
So, going into the fourth and final game of the night, the U.S. knew what it had to do.
We wanted to come out and make sure we were the aggressor, U.S. coach Steve Kerr.
They made it look easy, too. Devin Booker led a balanced front with 18 points and the Americans had little trouble with Brazil in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics, winning 122-87 on Tuesday.
The U.S. (4-0) moves on to face Serbia (3-1) in Thursday's semifinals, while Germany (4-0) takes on France (3-1) in the other semifinal. Winners of those games will play Saturday night for the gold medal; Thursday's losers will play Saturday morning for the bronze medal.
Everybody expects us to win," U.S. forward Jayson Tatum said. "But you don't take things for granted,
