LILLE, France — Team USA has advanced to the Olympic basketball quarterfinals on Tuesday following a 103-86 win over South Sudan on Wednesday, securing their spot.
The match differed greatly from their initial encounter with South Sudan in a pre-Olympic exhibition earlier this month, which saw LeBron James clinching a 101-100 victory with a last-second layup.
The Bright Stars are technically the lowest-rated team in the Olympics at 33rd in the FIBA World Rankings. But that is misleading, and they will have a reasonable shot at advancing to the quarterfinals, as well, depending on the outcome of their meeting with Serbia on Saturday.
After not playing in Team USA’s first game, Jayson Tatum returned to the starting lineup in place of Jrue Holiday, contributing four points in 17 minutes. Although Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton were absent from the first Olympic match, Joel Embiid was the sole player excluded from the second, having scored four points in 11 minutes previously.
The bench contributed a significant 63 points, with Bam Adebayo leading the charge with 18 points from 8-of-10 shooting, alongside seven rebounds, and Kevin Durant adding 14 points.
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Team USA is set to conclude their pool play on Saturday with a game against Puerto Rico.
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