On August 1, 2024, Beijing time, the United States team will face off against South Sudan, the United States men's basketball team and South Sudan both won the first round of matches, the United States men's basketball team defeated Serbia, South Sudan defeated Puerto Rico, and the winner of this game will secure a promotion spot.
Interestingly, Embiid, the center of the United States team, who had been performing poorly before, was finally substituted by United States men's basketball coach Kerr, but Durant, who was in very good shape in the last game, was still a substitute. The United States starters for this game were Curry, James, Tatum, Davis and Booker.
In the first quarter of the game, under the leadership of James, the United States men's basketball team played a wave of 6-0 starts, directly stopping South Sudan. After the timeout, South Sudan relied on Bol's breakthrough to complete a dunk score, Curry and Tatum missed a three-pointer, James missed the dribble, Shayok converted to an offensive layup and scored, Davis assisted James to complete a dunk, Shayok received the ball and hit a three-point shot at the top of the arc, Omote converted the offense and made a three-point shot, and gave the United States men's basketball team a 10-2 wave.
James and Holiday then scored on mid-range shots, and Durant came on the court to draw consecutive shooting fouls and make four free throws to put the United States men's basketball team on an 8-0 run. White and Holiday then staged a textbook defense that made it difficult for South Sudan to score on the court, Durant also made a steal and caused a physical foul, two free throws, White hit an undefended three-pointer, Adebayo also hit a mid-range shot, and the first quarter ended with the United States men's basketball team leading by 12 points at 26-14. Interestingly, Embiid didn't appear in the rotation in the first quarter of the game (and hasn't played since).
In the second quarter, Edwards took the lead in assisting Adebayo to complete a dunk, converted Durant to hit a three-point shot, and just 42 seconds later, the United States team stopped South Sudan 5-0.
After the timeout, South Sudan's offense still didn't change much, Durant completed the steal, and Edwards assisted Adebayo to complete the dunk again! South Sudan relied on Kakul to score a three-pointer, but White immediately returned the favor. After James returned to the court, the first round caused the opponent to shoot foul free throws to score, South Sudan finally improved on the offensive end, Omot and Bol used the middle range to score, Kerr saw that South Sudan had a trend, directly called a timeout, at this time the score United States men's basketball team led South Sudan 40-23, the second quarter of the game 5 minutes and 37 seconds.
Haliburton came on the court after this timeout, and made a three-point shot on his first shot, Omot felt excellent, and immediately responded with a three-point shot, James missed the shot, and was stealed, Bol converted the offense to complete the layup, and Haliburton grabbed a three-point shot and also hit! But it allowed Bol to return a three-pointer, and South Sudan relied on Omot and Bol to maintain the attack. Curry and Haliburton then started to play iron, but Adebayo was on fire, hitting two three-pointers and completing a dunk under the basket to contract the past eight points of the United States team. South Sudanese Jones and Omot scored inside to push the margin to within 20 points. At halftime, the United States men's basketball team led South Sudan 55-36.
In the second half of the game, Curry still felt bad, missed the first ultra-long three-point shot, even broke through the layup, and finally Davis stealed, passed to Curry, Curry assisted Tatum to complete the dunk, helping the United States men's basketball team get the first score of the second half. South Sudan felt a resurgence in the second quarter, Shayok caused a foul free throw to score, Bol converted the offense and was released to shoot three points, Jones singled Curry for the second time in the game scored, James passed the ball wrong, Bol hit another three points, South Sudan chased the score to 14 points, directly stopped the United States team!
After the timeout, the United States men's basketball team made a substitution, five up and five down! Durant, Holiday , White, Adebayo and Edwards, Edwards missed three points, Omot was released, dry three points hit steadily, continuing the second quarter of the hand, Holiday three points also hit iron, Durant shot mid-range shot, Edwards free throw line did not shoot, United States men's basketball team only scored 5 points in 5 minutes. In the end, he relied on Durant to make foul free throws and score 2 points, breaking the scoring drought.
After that, South Sudan Saul hit a three-pointer, White responded with a three-pointer, and then Edwards scored seven straight points to slightly help the United States men's basketball team stabilize the situation, and the United States men's basketball team led South Sudan 73-57 at the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter of the game, James Curry and Davis returned to the court, Curry still didn't make a layup, Davis completed the basket and scored, Booker's defense was passed by Omote in one step, and he could only foul the opponent to score free throws. Davis was ruled to elbow the opponent on the offensive end and gave a physical foul, South Sudan made two free throws, Kakul hit two free throws, and then Jones singled Curry for the third time in this game, not only scored a layup but also caused Curry to foul, plus free throws! The point difference was directly chased to 11 points.
Davis assisted Durant to shoot a three-pointer, Jones singled Curry for the fourth time to complete a layup, but fortunately, Curry finally completed a layup on the offensive end (1 of 8 shots), Booker scored a two-plus-one on an offensive and defensive conversion layup, and Davis blocked and completed a dunk. Then Curry was blocked for a three-pointer, South Sudan switched offense, and Curry also fouled Omote and gave the opponent two free throws.
Fortunately, Booker and James began to score, Holiday also scored three points, once stretched the score to 22 points, and then the United States men's basketball team began to relax, allowing South Sudan to chase 8 points in a row, fortunately, the score difference was too large, the game was out of suspense, and finally the United States men's basketball team defeated South Sudan 103-86, ushering in two consecutive wins in the Olympic group stage.
United States men's basketball player stats: Adebayo 19 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist, Durant 14 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, James 12 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, Edwards 13 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists, Booker 10 points, 1 rebound and 6 assists, White 10 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, Davis 8 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, Holiday 5 points, Haliburton 6 points, Tatum 4 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Curry shot 1 of 9 and 0 of 6 three-pointers for 3 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists.
South Sudanese player stats: Omot 24 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Jones 18 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists, Ball 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Shayok 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Kakul 7 points, Gabriel 2 points, 10 rebounds and 1 assist.
#夏日生活打卡季#