Team USA pulls away from Brazil, clinches 2020 Olympics berth

SHENZHEN — The United States Men’s National Team clinched a spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a 89-73 win over Brazil at the FIBA World Cup on Monday. The U.S. now moves on to the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup (a berth the Americans clinched with Greece’s win over the Czech Republic earlier in the day) as one of four teams with 5-0 records through pool play.

FINAL: USA 89, Brazil 73

The top spot out of Group K is ours! We head to Dongguan to take on France in the #FIBAWC quarterfinals on Wednesday. #USAGotGame pic.twitter.com/86pQxPUrf4

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) September 9, 2019

USA beats Brazil. First scenario below, w/ USA-France quarterfinal on Wednesday & Argentina-Serbia on the same side of the bracket. https://t.co/48CMlmcPDk

— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) September 9, 2019

The U.S. will play France (4-1) in the quarterfinals in Dongguan on Wednesday (7 a.m. ET). The winner of that game will face the winner of Tuesday’s game between Argentina (5-0) and Serbia (4-1) in the semifinals. The Czech Republic (3-2) advanced to the other half of the bracket via a point-differential tiebreaker over Brazil (3-2) and Greece (3-2).

Monday’s game was tied at 33 midway through the second quarter, but the U.S. was able to take the lead for good with five straight defensive stops and an 8-0 run. They led by just four at the half, but slowly took control in the third quarter. Marcus Smart put them up 11 with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the right wing, part of a stretch of 10 straight scores that eventually pushed the lead to 21.

@smart_MS3 BLOCK leads to a Joe Harris transition bucket! #USAGotGame #FIBAWC

: https://t.co/0Z6IvIscto | ESPN+
pic.twitter.com/PkyQvoPm3f

— NBA (@NBA) September 9, 2019

The U.S. had one of its best offensive games of the tournament, shooting 53 percent from the field. Kemba Walker, who had missed shootaround because he wasn’t feeling well in the morning, finished with 16 points and five assists. Myles Turner added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Donovan Mitchell dished out a team-high seven assists.

Jayson Tatum missed a third straight game with a left ankle sprain and his status for Wednesday’s quarterfinal is not yet known.

“I hope I can play,” Tatum said about the quarterfinal after participating in shootaround Monday morning. “There’s no timetable or anything. I’m just trying to get back right.”

The U.S. now has a 58-game winning streak in (non-exhibition) games with a roster made up entirely of NBA players, going back to the bronze-medal game of the 2006 World Championship.

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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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