Team USA, Booker and Durant calmly advance to Olympic quarterfinals

Team USA did its job, keeping pool play boring with a 3-0 finish in Group C after beating Puerto Rico 104-83 on Saturday.

Puerto Rico has been the worst team in Group C, and that combined with the Americans having already clinched a quarterfinal berth formed a recipe for some potential lulls. That came in a first quarter Team USA lost by four before a 28-10 close to the first half led by LeBron James’ sublime playmaking got it back in front by 19. It was nearly an assist per minute for the United States, with 19 across the first two quarters.

The advantage was extended to 28 after a 23-14 third period.

Devin Booker finished with nine points, four rebounds and two assists while Kevin Durant had 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. The only real standout performances came from Anthony Edwards’ 26 points off the bench in 17 minutes and a balanced 10 points, six rebounds and eight assists out of James. Jrue Holiday did not play after rolling his ankle against South Sudan but was a decision defined as highly precautionary and he will play on Tuesday.

Team USA will face Brazil in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, the weakest team to advance that has a handful of solid players but no one with the headlining power to go blow for blow with the red, white and blue’s stars.

It is led by Bruno Caboclo, the former 2014 first-round pick of the Toronto Raptors who you might remember from the “he is two years away from being two years away” line on draft night via ESPN draft analyst Fran Fraschilla. Caboclo had 33 points (13-for-19) and 17 rebounds in a vital win over Japan, a big-time flash of the athletic frame that made him a tantalizing prospect.

Keep an eye on the backcourt. Former Los Angeles Lakers guard and 41-year-old Marcelo Huertas is a crafty floor general and Yago Santos’ shifty agility in a smaller frame off the bench has made the point guard duo a really fun watch. The trio of Gui Santos, Leo Meindl and Vitor Benite offers some reliability on the wing as well.

Perhaps Brazil’s lack of real oomph gives Kerr one last chance to feed all the mouths he has to but he would be wise to play his best guys and forget the rest, building up any extra needed cohesion before two more games against high-level competition to finish the job.

Team USA’s combination of ridiculous star power and today’s world of discourse has spawned daily conversations about the lineup choices by head coach Steve Kerr. The spotlight on it has undoubtedly led to some badgering behind the scenes from interested onlookers back on this side of the globe. Kerr is mixing and matching at the moment to keep everyone happy, an unavoidable part of the dynamic.

He has been complimentary of Booker with this in mind, via ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

“Devin is probably the guy who’s been most adaptable to go from a different role in the NBA to a new one here,” Kerr said. “The offense clicks when he’s out there. The defense is really good. That’s why he’s started every game and seems to be good with any combination.”

Over the last month, the best five is clearly Anthony Davis, Booker, Durant, Holiday and James. After that, it would be a lot of Bam Adebayo and Edwards, with some bits of Stephen Curry and Derrick White sprinkled in.

When the stakes are high, it will be fascinating to see what Kerr chooses to do (or not do).

Curry, as an example, has been constantly hunted defensively and hasn’t been enough of a supernova offensively to offset that on a team with more well-rounded two-way guards that doesn’t need one-of-a-kind scorers like Curry. He will still play, but will Kerr still give him big minutes if that trade-off still isn’t yielding great results?

Booker held a starting spot alongside Curry and James for all three pool games. That won’t change. Durant should join them but has also played well off the bench, so if Kerr feels like he can get away with it, he will keep that up in order to find starting time for another guy. If that’s the case, it should easily be Holiday. And in that vein, Davis and Adebayo have definitively performed better than Joel Embiid. Either guy should start over him if it was based on just that. It rarely is, so we’ll see.

Jayson Tatum has also started now in the last two games after getting a DNP in the win over Serbia, far and away the best opponent Team USA has faced so far. He’s done a solid job as a ball-mover and slasher but it still looks a little clunky for him to mesh out there in FIBA play, like Embiid.

Germany and Canada both look good enough to take down the Americans on the right night. France hasn’t found its form but has the talent too as well. Ditto for Australia and Serbia. Team USA does not have a margin of error to appease underperforming stars (or their NBA teams) later on when any of those matchups could prove to be volatile. The risk is there and how much the Americans play with fire could determine their fate.

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