{"id":25349,"date":"2019-09-09T17:01:22","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T21:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=25349"},"modified":"2019-09-09T17:01:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T21:01:22","slug":"usa-cruises-past-brazil-advances-to-2019-fiba-world-cup-quarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2019\/09\/09\/usa-cruises-past-brazil-advances-to-2019-fiba-world-cup-quarters\/","title":{"rendered":"USA Cruises Past Brazil, Advances to 2019 FIBA World Cup Quarters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Team USA remains undefeated in the 2019 FIBA World Cup with an 89-73 victory over Brazil in Shenzhen, China, on September 9th. With the win, Team USA (5-0) earned the top seed in the quarterfinals, which theoretically gives them an easier road to the championship. The red, white and blue also clinched a berth in the 2020 Olympics as a result of the win.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">And with Brazil falling short of the quarterfinals, Argentina &amp; USA have qualified for next year\u2019s Olympics in Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnschuhmann\/status\/1171066953697386496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 9, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Brazil&#8217;s Marcelinho Huerto opened up the scoring by sinking a floater 18 seconds into the contest. But the early going was mainly characterized by sloppy play as neither team was able to find any sort of a rhythm. Team USA held a 14-7 lead midway through the first quarter, thanks in large part to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/indiana-pacers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Indiana Pacers<\/a>&#8216; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/turnemy01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Myles Turner<\/strong><\/a>. Turner, who turned in his best performance of the event, was very active on both ends of the floor during a crucial three-minute stretch where the Americans outscored Brazil 11-4. The 6-foot-11 center scored six points, grabbed two defensive rebounds, and came away with a steal during the stretch.<\/p>\n<p>Brazil was able to get back into the game as Team USA made just three of its final nine shots of the stanza, including missing all three of its three-point attempts. Still, the U.S. led 21-18 after 10 minutes of play.<\/p>\n<p>The Americans pushed their lead to 28-23 early in the second quarter as <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/boston-celtics\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Boston Celtics<\/a> star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/walkeke02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Kemba Walker<\/strong><\/a> sank a technical foul free throw, which was Brazil head coach Aleksandar Petrovic&#8217;s second technical of the game. Then Turner converted a layup off from a feed from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/utah-jazz\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Utah Jazz<\/a> star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchdo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Donovan Mitchell<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>From there, the game went back and forth. After Brazil tied the game at 33, the U.S. strung together an 8-0 run to go up 41-33. However, Brazil&#8217;s Vitor Benite tallied seven of his 15 second-quarter points over the final 55 seconds of the half to help the team come back to a score of 43-39.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Team USA Takes Control of the Game<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Just like the opening quarter, both teams struggled shooting the ball after halftime. The offense started to pick up things around the seven-minute mark of the frame. Turner once again came up big during a three-minute stretch that saw the U.S.&#8217;s lead increase to 56-48. Turner finished the period with six points &#8212; tying <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/milwaukee-bucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>&#8216; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/middlkh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Khris Middleton<\/strong><\/a> for the most points in the frame &#8211; along with three boards as well as a steal. The Celtics&#8217; guard\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smartma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Marcus Smart<\/strong> <\/a>knocked down an off-balance three-pointer from the right-wing right before the third-quarter buzzer to push the lead to double-digits (67-56).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x60baE9yFtA\" width=\"405\" height=\"228\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. used a 6-0 run to extend its lead to 73-58 with 8:33 left in the game. A three-pointer by Walker two-and-a-half minutes later gave the Americans their biggest lead of the day at 83-62. Brazil would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.<\/p>\n<p>Team USA shot 52% (36-for-69) from the field overall with 21 of the field goals being assisted upon. Meanwhile, the Americans were once again staunch defensively, holding Brazil to 42% shooting from the field. The USA also won the rebound battle (39-36) and forced 15 turnovers which they turned into 19 points with 16 coming on the fastbreak. Brazil (3-2) finished in 13th place.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Player of the Game: Turner<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RVAI2TWxHds\" width=\"405\" height=\"228\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nTurner and Walker led the way for Team USA with 16 points. But Turner was dominant during key parts of the game and earned a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fiba.basketball\/basketballworldcup\/2019\/player\/Myles-Turner\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">game-high efficiency rating of 23<\/a>. He was 8-for-11 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds in just 21 minutes of action. It was his second double-figure scoring effort of the event, although Turner has done a fantastic job on the board throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Walker&#8217;s new teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jaylen Brown<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/sacramento-kings\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sacramento Kings<\/a> forward <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barneha02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Harrison Barnes<\/a><\/strong> chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Mitchell doled out seven dimes while Walker was credited with five assists.<\/p>\n<p>Boston&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jayson Tatum<\/strong><\/a> sat out his third consecutive game due to a sprained ankle.<\/p>\n<p>Benite led the way for Brazil with 21 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Former NBA players <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barbole01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Leandro Barbosa<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/varejan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Anderson Varejao<\/strong><\/a> had 14 points apiece.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Up Next<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The USA will meet France (4-1) in a quarterfinal contest in Dongguan, China, on September 11th at 7 a.m (ET). The winner of that game will face the winner of Serbia (4-1)-Argentina (4-1) quarterfinal in the semifinals on Sept. 13.<\/p>\n<p>Spain (5-0) faces Poland (4-1), and Australia (5-0) takes on the Czech Republic (3-2) in the other quarterfinal matchups.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<br \/>\n<a id=\"-lMdktx4SRFxzSAJ1LbD4Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1167070992\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-lMdktx4SRFxzSAJ1LbD4Q',sig:'yh541pKic5aAedDTXNIvtUnOYhl95c3uHXbDO1zX6iM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1167070992',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Team USA remains undefeated in the 2019 FIBA World Cup with an 89-73 victory over Brazil in Shenzhen, China, on September 9th. With the win, Team USA (5-0) earned the top seed in the quarterfinals, which theoretically gives them an easier road to the championship. The red, white and blue also clinched a berth in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":25361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62],"tags":[2258,2231,169,637,96,2081],"class_list":["post-25349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-brazil-basketball","tag-fiba-world-cup","tag-kemba-walker","tag-myles-turner","tag-nba","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Matthew Duesing","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}