USA Basketball Qualifies For 2020 Summer Olympics With Win Over Brazil
Sep 9, 2019, 9:39 AM
(Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
(Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
SHANGHAI, China – The United States men’s basketball team knocked off Brazil 89-73 in the second round of the FIBA World Cup of basketball. With the win, they have qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell finished with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, while shooting 2-of-6 from the field in 22 minutes of play.
The U.S. will defend their gold medal that they won in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They cruised through the tournament to winning the gold, with only three of their 13 games being decided by single digits.
Against Brazil, Boston Celtics guard Kemba Walker and Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner led the United States with 16 points apiece.
Officially official ✍️
The U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team will defend gold at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo!#USABMNT x @TeamUSA x @Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/T7ajKh8HDx
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) September 9, 2019
Vitor Benite scored 21 points to lead Brazil, while Anderson Varejao and Leandro Barbosa each had 14 points in the loss.
The United States will advance to the quarterfinals to face France on Wednesday. The winner of that game will advance to the Semifinals on Friday against the winner of the Argentina and Serbia game. The loser will play on Thursday against the loser of Serbia and Argentina.
France is coming off of a two-point loss to Australia in the second round.
The U.S. and France will tip-off on Wednesday at 5 a.m. and can be seen on Twitch.
