Former Warrior star breaks major olympic record as Team USA advances to semi-finals
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Team USA looks to be hitting their stride at the perfect time, taking on Golden State Warriors forward Gui Santos and his native Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Olympics on Tuesday. After starting as overwhelming favorites, it was a dominant effort from start to finish for Team USA who finished with a 122-87 victory.
The United States were locked in defensively from the very start. We all know how explosive the offense can be with some of the best and most talented scorers in the world, but when this group focuses on the defensive end, it makes them nearly invincible.
Former Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant added to his legacy, but it was another quiet outing for Stephen Curry against Brazil on Tuesday
Kevin Durant, the former 2x Finals MVP with the Warriors, broke a longstanding USA Olympic basketball record. After dropping 11 points on Tuesday, the 35-year-old passed the great Lisa Leslie as the all-time leading scorer in USA Olympic history, both men's and women's.
The greatest scorer in U.S. Olympic basketball history.
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 6, 2024
🇺🇸 #USABMNT #Paris2024 #Basketball pic.twitter.com/NICZfJBWqu
Add it to the list of accolades for one of the greatest scorers this game has ever seen. Not to mention, Durant is chasing his fourth gold medal which would set another record. Durant could go down as possibly the greatest international player of all time.
Current Warriors superstar Stephen Curry had yet another quiet outing, not that it should be overly surprising to Golden State fans who've often seen the 2x MVP's unselfishness and willingness to take a backseat at times.
Curry finished the game with seven points on 2-of-3 shooting, having missed his only three-point attempt while adding one rebound. The 36-year-old's defensive effort was much more concerted, helping restrict Brazil to less than 42% shooting from the floor and 32.4% from three-point range.
Curry will have his moment in these Olympic games, but for now, he is simply doing whatever the team needs in the chase for gold. On the Brazilian side, Santos also had seven points on 3-of-8 shooting, also adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals while being put on a poster of a massive Anthony Davis putback dunk during the third-quarter.
Team USA will now face Nikola Jokic and Serbia in the semifinal on Thursday after they defeated Australia earlier on Tuesday, while on the other side of the draw hosts France will take on Germany for a spot in the final.