East Los Angeles, CA)[From The Editor’s Desk]: Team USA’s third game in Group “C” was their easiest and at the same time one of the most diverse in that Head Coach, Steve Kerr, was able to make some player adjustments on playing time or “minutes” before moving onto the Quarterfinals where it’ll be “Win or Go Home” or the fabled “Knockout Round” per the FIBA Olympic Tournament rules.

Their opponent in this Group “C” match-up was Puerto Rico, winless against Germany and South Sudan and in a good reality check, with no hope for moving into the next round as they knew it would be highly improbable for them to upset the #1 ranked team in the Tournament, Team USA. However, they came to play and gave it everything they had. 

GAME SUMMARY]

[Pre-Game Notes]: Let’s start with the line-up Head Coach, Steve Kerr, asked to take the floor. They were in this order: Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum for this final game in “Group C” play. Let’s just say that Lebron directed his players in showing the sold-out crowd what fun it is to be playing on a team with this many superstars and one of the best Coaching Staff willing to also give their time and experience to this special Olympic team.

[1st Half]: The Puerto Ricans came out of the gate with a decent start as they hit most of their shots, got back on defense, and played very competitively. They would win this quarter by a margin of (29-25). Finding the range for the U.S. were Embiid, Tatum, James, Edwards, and Curry.  

There was still plenty of game left for the fans to witness and that’s how it turned out with Team USA going into cruise control after the 1st period while still proving to the world why they are the top-ranked team in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

As just mentioned, the tide began to turn in favor of Team USA when its “lock-down” defense kicked into gear, and in the second period, that’s what happened. Team USA, under the watchful eyes of Head Coach, Steve Kerr, and his Coaching Staff, coupled with the Court Generalship and Leadership of #6 LeBron James, given the nickname of “Captain America” by his former Miami Heat Teammate, Dwyane Wade, for his inspirational and dominant play, they stepped on the gas and ran away to a (39-16) point production giving them the very comfortable margin of a 19-point lead at half time and a very good feeling of confidence going into victory lane once the game was officially over.

At the very least, Team USA may have been slow out of the gate, but once their engine began to warm up, the opponent didn’t stand a chance with all of the horsepower under Team USA’s engine.

[Photo Gallery Courtesy]: FIBA.basketball

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[HALF-TIME SCORE]: USA  64  Puerto Rico  45

[2nd Half]: In the third period, the U.S. was marching to its own beat offensively and began to share the ball for all to get in on the action while scoring at will over the Puerto Ricans. But, at the (5:00) minute mark, an incident on the court involving James, stunned the crowd, Head Coach Steve Kerr, and several of LeBron’s teammates who quickly came over to see what happened after Puerto Rico had scored on a driving lay-up while being checked by James.

He had fallen to the court and began to examine and check on his left -eye to see if it was okay after receiving an inadvertent elbow on the play. No foul was called and the game played on. Finally, the Officiating Crew Chief stopped play for the medical unit to come onto the floor to administer aid. Coach Kerr substituted him out of the game and had James taken to the Medical Unit inside the Arena for further assessment.

Over the last (5:00) minutes of play, there were a variety of highlight plays and shots that looked very good for Team USA—dunks by Bam Adebayo, open jump shots by Derrick White, 3-point shots from Devin Booker, and Anthony Edwards, plus a couple of dunks for the “Ant” as well. The Red White Blue once again, easily went over the century mark with 104 points compared to 83 for Puerto Rico.

[FINAL SCORE]: USA 104   Puerto Rico  83

[Team USA Scoring & Stat Leaders]: Edwards (26) points, (3) rebounds, (3) assists, and (1) block; Embiid, (15) pts, (3) rebounds, (2) assists, and (2) blocks; Durant, (11) pts, (4) rebounds, (3) assists and (1) steal; James, (10) pts, (6) rebounds, (3) assists, and (2) steals; Davis, (10) pts, (6) rebounds, (3) assists, and (2) blocks. The most notable player accomplishment on the day was Jayson Tatum who earned himself a “double-double” of (10) pts plus (10) rebounds to go along with (3) rebounds and (2) steals. Every rostered player saw action except Jrue Holiday.

[Puerto Rico Scoring Leader]: José Alvarado  (18) points –  (NBA-New Orleans Pelicans)

[OF SIGNIFICANCE]: There appears to be no other team, perhaps but France, with several very talented “Bigs” or “Trees” and NBA veterans in the appearances of Center, 7-4 Victor Webanyama, and Power Forward, 7-0, Rudy Gobert, that could challenge the U.S. for world ranking supremacy and the Paris Games Gold Medal. But France vs. the USA could very well be played for the most precious medal of all, the G-o-l-d!

[NEXT UP]: Quarterfinal 1 vs. Brazil, Member of Group “B”- Aug. 6th in Bercy Arena, Paris