Top spot in quarterfinals clinched as Team USA dumps Puerto Rico

In the final group play showing, Team USA thumped Puerto Rico in order to remain undefeated and clinch a top spot in the knockout round.

The men’s national team beat Puerto Rico, 104-83, Saturday, Aug. 3 from the Pierre Mauroy Stadium. This marks the fifth time this summer that this year’s group has reached the 100-point threshold and the third straight outing to do it overall.

It’s only the second time in program history that the country has scored at least 100 points in each of the first three games of the Olympics.

The quarterfinals are set to begin Tuesday, Aug. 6 and the Americans will enter as the top seed. This comes after posting a 3-0 record along with a +64 point differential.

NBA guard Jose Alvarado had a fast start to this one after scoring half of the first 12 points for Puerto Rico while issuing a stout defensive performance. The US was held to just two points through the first two and a half-plus minutes of the game as it fell behind by as many as six points.

A 6-0 start to the second quarter for the Americans laid the foundation for the eventual comeback just before halftime. Ultimately, it was an 18-2 run by the international powerhouse over the final 3:14 of the first half as its lead grew to as many as 19.

Overall, the second quarter went to Team USA, 39-16.

Not long into the second half would the lead balloon to 30 points with another 8-0 spurt in the third quarter in just 67 seconds.

First time Olympian Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 26 points on a red-hot shooting night. He also did it on both ends with a steal-dunk highlight reel transition play on his way to 11-for-15 shooting numbers for the night.

Center Joel Embiid scored his first points of this year’s Olympic run in the first quarter after starting his second game in the last three outings. With the offense running through him at times, Embiid was able to score from all three levels on his way to 15 points in the contest.

Fellow starters LeBron James and Jayson Tatum added 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds and a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double.

All-time leading scorer for the country Kevin Durant missed his first three of the Olympics but still chipped in 11 points off-the-bench. Fellow frontcourt player Anthony Davis was the final US player in double-figures with 10 points.

As a team, the men’s national group shot close to 50% from the field while racking up 30 assists on 40 made  field goals.

Two-time NBA champion Jrue Holiday didn’t log any minutes in the team’s win for the first time this summer.