The USA Men’s National Basketball Team finished off its group stage play at the Paris 2024 Olympics on a strong performance by overpowering American neighbors Puerto Rico, 104-83, at the Pierre de Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France. 

Team USA quickly disposed of Puerto Rico with a barrage of three-pointers, fastbreak points, and tenacious defense to go undefeated in their group. Along with the largest point differential out of all teams in the competition, the Americans also secured the top overall seed and assured themselves of facing the worst +/- team in the quarterfinals. 

After not seeing any playing time at all vs South Sudan, Joel Embiid returned to the starting lineup to score 15 points and block 2 shots. Embiid also had fun trolling the French fans who were constantly booing him all tournament long by shushing the boos when he scored and letting them hear it once Team USA had it going. 

Anthony Edwards led the Americans in scoring with 26 points off the bench, and he treated the fans in Paris a huge highlight when he threw down a windmill dunk in the third quarter that left fans out of their seats to appreciate Edwards’ skill. 

LeBron James was once again solid in manning Team USA with a solid 10-8-6 stat line while Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, and Anthony Davis each chipped in with 10+ points in Team USA’s 21-point victory.

Team USA will have two days rest before starting their gold medal run in the knockout rounds when they face Brazil in the quarterfinals.