The United States men’s basketball team dominated Brazil en route to a 122-87 win in their quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday. Six players scored double figures as the U.S. had its best team effort of the entire tournament.
Read more: USA Men’s Basketball Dominates Brazil, Heads to Paris Olympics Semifinal
The United States is now getting set for a semifinal matchup against Serbia on Thursday. It will be the third matchup in the last three weeks between the two teams, who met once in exhibition play and once in pool play. The U.S. dominated both games, winning the exhibition matchup by a score of 105-79, and winning the pool play matchup, 110-84.
The U.S. will now need to take down Serbia one final time if they want to reach the gold medal match for the fifth straight Olympics. The United States has won gold in the previous four men’s basketball events, after finishing with the bronze in 2004.
While it seemed like everything was going perfectly for the U.S. on Tuesday, the team did hit a bit of a roadblock when superstar LeBron James was hit by an inadvertent elbow and forced to leave the game.
In the third quarter, James threw a bad pass that was stolen by Brazil. On the fastbreak, Brazil’s Georginho de Paula went up to get a putback, and clipped James on the side of the face with his elbow. James immediately started bleeding, and ended up going back to the locker room for further evaluation. He ended up returning to the bench but didn’t re-enter the game as the United States held a big lead. Still, there was some concern over James’ face injury.
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After the game, James told Marc J. Spears of Andscape that he was feeling OK and the injury was nothing serious.
“I’m OK,” James said. “I just got hit with an inadvertent elbow.”
Team USA head coach Steve Kerr told reporters that James needed to get four stitches in his face.
Fortunately, James appears to be fine and this injury isn’t expected to keep him out of the semifinal matchup against Serbia. James has been crucial to Team USA’s success during this Olympics, averaging 13.8 points, 7.8 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game. He’s also shooting an incredible 67.6 percent from the field.
James didn’t get hit in the eyes or nose, so he likely won’t have to wear any protective gear for Thursday’s semifinal.