We are now on Day 11 of 16 of The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris. The Olympic Games have been a ton of fun all around, and basketball is part of it. After an exciting group stage on both the men’s and women’s sides, we have reached the quarterfinals. Here is a preview of the eight quarterfinal games.
2024 Paris Olympics Basketball Quarterfinals Preview
Men’s Quarterfinals
Germany vs. Greece
Germany is the reigning World Cup champion, and it has played like it. In its three group stage games, Germany had an average margin of victory of 15.67 points. Only the US and Serbia have scored more or shot a better percentage. Die Mannschaft (The Team) also has the highest assist-to-turnover ratio and has turned the ball over less than any other team in this tournament. Last summer’s World Cup MVP Dennis Schröder, with 19.7 PPG (7th), 9.0 APG (1st), and 1.7 SPG, is playing great, as he always does in international competitions. Franz Wagner, who is third in scoring average with 21.7 PPG, has also played really well. The Germans will have to do a better job rebounding, as it has the least RPG of any remaining team.
Greece upset Australia on Friday and squeezed into the quarterfinals. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been awesome. The Greek Freak is averaging 27 points per game, which is 5 more than any other player, along with 7.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists. Nick Calathes has been great at facilitating the offense and is averaging 7.3 APG. However, that offense will have to be better if they want to upset the reigning world champs. No team has shot worse from three than Greece (30.3%), and only Puerto Rico has averaged fewer points than they have.
Serbia vs. Australia
Except for the second half of its opening game against Team USA, Serbia has played really well. The US is the only team scoring more and shooting a better percentage. Serbia, of course, has the best player in the world in Nikola Jokić. He’s played like it too, averaging 18.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists per game, which are all in the top 10 (he leads all players in rebounding). Bogdan Bogdanović has averaged 19 points per game and continues to be one of the better international scorers. As a team Serbia is averaging the most amount of rebounds of any remaining team. However, it will have to stop turning the ball over as much.
Australia ended up finishing second in the Group of Death (Group A) despite going 1-2. It has been really up and down as a team. While it has averaged the third most rebounds and assists, it has also turned the ball over 16.7 times per game. Part of the problem is that Patty Mills, who is now top 5 all-time in scoring in the Olympics, has not played well. He’s averaged just 13.3 points per game, which isn’t awful until you see he’s averaged 20.8 PPG in the previous three Olympic games. Thankfully Josh Giddey has been awesome just like he was in the World Cup last summer, and Jock Landale is averaging just shy of a double-double.
France vs. Canada
France has been disappointing so far in front of their home fans. While it is 2-1, the French got throttled by Germany in the last game and has been pretty mediocre in every statistical category. The French haven’t been particularly bad at anything, thankfully, but it also hasn’t been particularly good at anything either. The “Steiffel Tower” Rudy Gobert has been great defensively and with that is the leader in blocks with 2.7 per game. Victor Wembanyama has, unsurprisingly, been a bright spot for Les Bleus. He is second in rebounds per game at 10.7, second in blocks per game with 2.0, and is the leader in steals with 2.7 per game despite being a big man.
Canada is one of three teams that made it out of the group stage undefeated. Getting through the gauntlet of the group of death has made people believe that it is one of the best teams in this tournament. It is fourth in scoring average and shooting percentage, as well as being the fourth-most efficient team. Additionally, the Germans are the only team remaining in this tournament that has turned the ball over less than the Canadians. However, like the Germans, Canada will have to do a much better job rebounding. It was the worst rebounding team in the group stage. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played well, averaging 19.7 points (7th best), 4 rebounds, and 4 assists per game. RJ Barrett played really well in the first two games against Australia and Greece.
Brazil vs. USA
Brazil snuck in as one of the two teams to advance on a point differential tiebreaker. But it is going to have to play a lot better if it wants to beat the Americans and move on to the semifinals. Among the 8 remaining teams, only Greece has scored less and shot a lower percentage than Brazil has. The Brazilians have also turned the ball over a whopping 17.3 times per game, which is more than any other team in this tournament, and has also been the least efficient team. At least they have Bruno Caboclo. He didn’t play much against France and Germany, but he was amazing against Japan. The MVP of the Riga, Latvia OQT scored 33 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, and had an efficiency rating of 43 against the Japanese.
Team USA this year has been dubbed by some as “The Avengers,” and it has certainly played like Earth’s mightiest (well, mostly). The Americans struggled early in all three of their group stage games. But they ended up winning all three by an average of 21.3 points per game. It leads this tournament in scoring, shooting percentage, assists, steals, and efficiency, and has committed the least amount of fouls by a wide margin. I don’t think I need to tell you about how good LeBron James, Anthony Edwards, and Kevin Durant have been (having KD as your sixth man is a massive advantage, and should be illegal with how awesome he’s been). If there are any negatives about this team so far, it’s that it has shot just 74% from the free throw line. Joel Embiid played poorly again and didn’t play at all against South Sudan. He had a solid game against Puerto Rico, but Puerto Rico was awful in the group stage.
Women’s Quarterfinals
Serbia vs. Australia
Serbia has not been great statistically other than being second in steals with 11.7 per game and third in rebounds with 40 per game. But that’s not damaging as long as you still find ways to win like the Serbians have. It finished 2-1 in the group stage, losing only to world #4 Spain. Yvonne Anderson, who played collegiately at Texas and was a part of the 2024 EuroLeague Champion Fenerbahçe, has played well. She has averaged 13.3 points per game and 7 assists per game, the latter of which is the most of any player in this tournament. Tina Krajišnik, who was a part of the Serbian team that won Women’s EuroBasket 2021, is averaging 7.7 rebounds per game which is good enough for sixth overall.
While Australia hasn’t scored a ton, it has shot a really nice 47.7% from the floor including 37.3% from three, both of which are second-best. They’ve done a good job after losing the opener to Nigeria. But the Aussies will have to improve their dead-last free throw percentage and cut down on the turnovers, which at 21 per game is the second most of any team. Sami Whitcomb has averaged 14.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game (3rd best). Stephanie Talbot has shot a low percentage, but other than that she’s been great. She has averaged 9 rebounds (4th best) and 7 assists (first among all players) per game so far. The Opals had to adjust and have done so well enough after they suffered a huge blow right before the Olympics began. Rebecca Allen aggravated a hamstring injury in the team’s final warm-up game against Canada and was forced to pull out of the Olympics. The team was understandably “devastated” when they heard the news about their team’s leader.
Spain vs. Belgium
Spain is one of the two remaining undefeated teams in this tournament. Despite being middle of the pack in every major statistical category the Spaniards just find ways to win their games. They do, however, have the highest free throw percentage of any team at 83.7%. Megan Gustafson, who currently plays for the Las Vegas Aces, has been one of the best overall players in this year’s Olympics so far. She’s averaging 17 points, 10 rebounds per game, and 2 steals per game which rank 7th, 2nd, and 9th respectively. She even grabbed 9 rebounds against Serbia despite playing just 17 minutes in that game. And don’t forget that she ranks fourth in efficiency, and two of the three players above her are arguably the two best players in the world right now. Leonor Rodríguez has averaged the 10th most points per game at 15.7. The veteran was a part of the Spain team that won Silver in the Rio Games in 2016.
Belgium is the only team so far to give the US a competitive game. They annihilated Japan over the weekend to make it out of the group stage. We are finally seeing the Belgian squad that most expected to see coming into the Olympics. It is averaging the second most points per game and shooting the third-highest field goal percentage. Defensively only the US has blocked more shots per game. Emma Meesseman had 30 points in that game against Japan and is averaging 26.3 per game for the tournament, the most of any player. She also had 11 rebounds in that game. She has also been the most efficient player in the tournament (adding more reasons as to why the Washington Mystics desperately need to bring her back). Speaking of the Mystics, point guard Julie Vanloo hasn’t been shooting as well as she has been during this WNBA season, but she has played her role running the point and facilitating the offense very well.
Germany vs. France
Germany has been a bit of a surprise team in these Olympics. It is by far the lowest-ranked team in Paris at 19th in the world (still really good). The Germans looked good in all three of their group stage games. They won the first two before losing to the US. Even though that was a blowout loss they didn’t look awful and were even up by 9 points at one time. Germany has been the best three-point shooting team with a 38.7% shooting percentage and is right behind Belgium and China in scoring average. However, it will need to do a better job passing and not turning the ball over so much. Dallas Wings star Satou Sabally has been awesome for Germany. She is averaging 21.7 points per game, which is second only to Emma Meesseman, as well as 5.7 rebounds per game. She and her younger sister Nyara Sabally led the team to a big upset win over Belgium in the opener. However, the team suffered a big loss as Nyara had to be helped off of the court. She has not played in the last two games.
Nigeria vs. USA
The Nigeria women’s basketball team is the first African team ever, men’s or women’s, to make it to and play in the Olympic quarterfinals. That is a huge accomplishment. No matter what happens in this game the Nigerians can and should be proud of what they’ve done. Nigeria has averaged by far the most steals per game of any team with 13.3 per game. Other than that it hasn’t been great as a team statistically. But to be fair the stats were dragged down due to getting obliterated by France. Ezinne Kalu is averaging 19.3 PPG, which is the 5th most of any player. Promise Amukamara 3rd in assists per game with 6.7 per game.
The Team USA women have now won an amazing 58 straight games in the Olympics as it pursues its 8th straight gold medal. As usual, the team has played some incredible basketball. They lead the tournament in every major statistical category other than steals. Belgium gave them a game for the most part, but that was still a 13-point USA win. The Americans had an average margin of victory of 19.3 points per game. A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart have played amazingly and are the leaders of this team, but everyone has pitched in. Stewie has averaged 20.3 points (3rd best), 6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.0 blocks (2nd best) per game. Wilson is averaging 20.3 points (3rd most), 9.7 rebounds (3rd most), 2.7 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks (2nd best) per game. She just needs to cut down on the turnovers a bit. She’s averaged the 3rd most turnovers per game with 4.3 per game.
