By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer
VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — In the rematch, the U.S. had an easier time with South Sudan than it did when the teams first met a couple of weeks ago.
Easier. Not easy.
The U.S. clinched a trip to the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics by beating South Sudan, 103-86, on Wednesday night – a game that wasn’t ever really in doubt but was no romp either. Bam Adebayo scored 18 points and Kevin Durant had 14 for the Americans, who took control with a 25-4 run in the first half.
And led by Adebayo, the U.S. reserves scored 66 points (South Sudan’s reserves totaled just 14).
“We’ve been calling ourselves the bench mob for a long time now,” said Adebayo, who shot 8 for 10 from the field to go with seven rebounds in perhaps his best game ever with the national team. “And it doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup. We always seem to figure it out.”
Anthony Edwards scored 13 and Lakers star LeBron James added 12 for the U.S. Nuni Omot led South Sudan with 21 points, while Carlik Jones scored 18 and Bul Kuol added 16.
The win locked up a knockout-round berth and the top seed out of Group C for the U.S., which joined Canada, France and Germany in the quarterfinals. There are seven teams still alive for the other four quarterfinal spots; only Puerto Rico, which faces the Americans on Saturday, has been eliminated from contention to advance.
That said, Saturday’s game – the first between Puerto Rico and the U.S. at the Olympics – isn’t meaningless for the U.S. A 3-0 record in group play would give the Americans their best chance at a top-two seed for the knockout round and, in theory, an easier matchup in the quarterfinals.
“It’s not the goal,” U.S. forward and Lakers star Anthony Davis said of making the quarterfinals. “It does give us a sense of satisfaction as far as being able to play next week. But there’s a lot that we can get better at, a lot that we can clean up, and we’ll use Saturday’s game against Puerto Rico to tighten the screws again and then just see where it takes us from there.”
South Sudan finishes group play against Serbia on Saturday, a game that has knockout-stage implications for both teams. The draw for the quarterfinals will be held Saturday night, and all four quarterfinal games will be played Tuesday in Paris.
“We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task,” Jones said. “Our spirits are still positive.”
South Sudan coach Royal Ivey likened his life to a movie after his team won its Olympic opener over Puerto Rico, and understandably so. The story of his team – from the youngest country in the world, a group that overcame absurd odds just to get to the Paris Games – is a quintessential Olympic one, one that will be talked about for years whether the African nation wins another game in France or not.
That said, if nearly beating the Americans in London on July 20 in an exhibition – – was a movie, then this was the sequel.
In the movie world, sequels often aren’t as good as the originals. Such was the case Wednesday.
The first few minutes after the opening credits weren’t bad – South Sudan led 7-6 and 10-8 – but the plot quickly got predictable. Durant made a 3-pointer with about a minute to go in the opening quarter for the first double-digit lead, Adebayo scored inside with 8:42 left in the half to cap what was a 25-4 run, the Americans had a 33-14 lead and there wasn’t a ton of drama the rest of the way.
“They’re a talented team,” U.S. guard and Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry said. “On any given night, they can beat anybody.”
South Sudan cut the lead to 10 in the third, but the U.S. took a 73-57 edge into the final 10 minutes.
Most of the drama, such as it was, happened pregame anyway. U.S. coach Steve Kerr changed his starting lineup, putting Davis and Jayson Tatum in and taking Jrue Holiday and Joel Embiid out. Embiid, a former NBA MVP, didn’t play at all, while Tyrese Haliburton got his first playing time of the Olympics as the U.S. went to an 11-man rotation for the first half and took a 55-36 lead into the break.
“We have an embarrassment of riches on this roster, that’s the best way to put it,” Kerr said. “I mean these guys are all champions, All-Stars, Hall of Famers, however you want to put it. So the whole thing is are we committed to the goal? That’s it. That’s it.”
When the group of Durant, Adebayo, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Anthony Edwards came in, it changed the game. That group is filled with excellent defenders and still plenty of offensive punch.
“I just think Steve trusts us,” Adebayo said. “I feel like he looks at the benches, that spark, to come off the bench and really give us a boost and we did that tonight.”
White had 10 points with three steals and a block among a string of excellent defensive plays.
South Sudan outscored the U.S. by two in the second half, but that hardly mattered in the end.
“We’ve got 12 guys who are all capable of dominating,” Kerr said. “Every night is going to be a little different. But we like our chances with the number of great players we have on our roster.”
Kerr announced after the game that Embiid and Holiday will return to the starting lineup against Puerto Rico. Knowing there has been a fair amount of second-guessing his lineup decisions already, he then made it clear he was ignoring that.
“The NBA is so popular worldwide and the regular season is kind of a soap opera, and so we understand that and social media takes over and everything becomes so dramatic,” Kerr said. “And I think we need to give these guys more credit. They’re here to win a gold medal. They’re pros. They’re committed to each other.”
