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Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior Writer
PARIS — If there’s one thing Joel Embiid has learned during the Olympics, it’s that the French can boo him but no one here can stop him from doing the crotch chop.
The American center’s comfort level in dealing with adversity mirrored that of the rest of his teammates Tuesday as Team USA put on a clinic in a 122-87 quarterfinal victory over Brazil.
The U.S. is now two wins from a fifth consecutive gold medal and is set up for another meeting with Serbia in the semifinals on Thursday.
Kevin Durant added 11 points for Team USA, passing legend Lisa Leslie for the most points in American Olympic history.
Not only did Embiid laugh his way through the jeers from those still annoyed that he passed on France’s offer to join its national team. He was all too happy to pull out one of his favorite celebrations with the WWE-inspired chop maneuver. Embiid has been fined twice — for $60,000 — for the move by the NBA, but on this night, league commissioner Adam Silver was at Bercy Arena only as a fan.
“Oh no, they still might find a way [to fine me], but that felt good,” Embiid said with a smile. “It’s good to have fun too, because at the end of the day, you got to take something out of this experience.”
The U.S. needed some production from Embiid against a Brazil team with a strong front line. He was dominant right from the start, cleaning the glass effectively and showing off his classic mix of interior and perimeter scoring.
In 12 devastating minutes of work in the first half, Embiid put in 14 points with seven rebounds. Brazil was helpless in dealing with him as he made 5 of 6 shots, including two 3-pointers. The boos from the fans ebbed, which only seemed to encourage Embiid to ask for more of them.
Embiid did have a minor ankle turn, and he sat the second half as a precaution.
The antics were part of the low-stress evening Team USA was hoping for, especially after seeing underdogs apply all sorts of pressure during the day, including France upsetting Canada just as the Americans were arriving at the arena.
With Tuesday’s 35-point victory, Team USA has won each of its first four games here by at least 15 points, marking the first time a U.S. men’s team has done so since the 2008 Redeem Team, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Durant, who entered the game five points behind Leslie as the U.S. Olympic scoring leader, finished the day with 494 points for his career.
“Records are meant to be broken, so somebody will come along and do the same to me,” Durant said. “My focus is on trying to win this gold.”
All in all, it was a brilliant display of precision basketball led by LeBron James, who is steadily assembling a case for Olympic MVP. James was the catalyst for an impressive display of selfless offense, throwing an array of jaw-dropping passes that led to easy baskets for his teammates.
The most memorable happened just before the end of the first half on an inbounds pass. From half court, James threw a no-look frozen rope that threaded a tight window between Brazilian defenders and ended up perfectly in the hands of Jayson Tatum for an alley-oop.
“We had a play, but he just looked at me, so I knew he was doing the backdoor,” Tatum said. “That was a hell of a pass. He put it right on the money, so he made it easy for me.”
James has thrown some passes for the scrapbook already during the Paris Games, and all he did Tuesday was pile up nine assists in just 12 minutes to go with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. The only thing keeping it from being a perfect night was an elbow.
Brazil’s Georginho De Paula caught James above the left eye going for a rebound midway through the third quarter, opening up a cut. James exited to the locker room, where he got four stitches, and did not return to the game. It is not expected to cost him any more time.
James’ lead was infectious as Team USA displayed perhaps its best ball movement of the summer. The Americans had 18 assists on their first 19 baskets.
“For a guy who truly is a point forward at heart, for him to be the leading scorer in NBA history when that’s kind of the secondary thing that he does, he’s crazy,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said. “But that’s LeBron.”
Devin Booker, who has been one of the Americans’ steadiest players, ended up leading the team in scoring with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Brazil was fueled by former NBA player Bruno Caboclo, who had 24 points.
Source: www.espn.com