SAITAMA, Japan — The U.S. lost its first two exhibition games of the summer in Las Vegas, dropped its opening game at these Olympics and had a difficult time shaking free of the Czech Republic in their group-play finale.
None of that matters now.
The Americans are headed to the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Games — with a shot of being good as gold once again. Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Kevin Durant added 23 and set a pair of USA Basketball men’s Olympic records, and the U.S. defeated the Czechs 119-84 on Saturday to clinch a berth in the knockout stage.
“I think our guys really focused well and did a good job in gaining ground, day by day, practice by practice,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. “Hopefully we’ll continue that moving forward. We have to if we want to be successful.”
Zach LaVine scored 13 points, Jrue Holiday had 11 and JaVale McGee finished with 10 points for the U.S. The Americans shot 7 for 20 in the first quarter — then made 33 of 44 shots over the next 26 minutes, including a staggering 21-for-25 start to the second half.
“It’s fun to watch,” Holiday said, “and fun to be part of.”
The U.S. (2-1) finished second behind France in Group A, but will join the French, Australia and the winner of Sunday’s game between Slovenia and Spain as a top-four seed for Tuesday’s quarterfinals based on FIBA’s tiebreaker system that includes point differential.
Those quarterfinal matchups will be decided in a draw on Sunday night, but the U.S. has now assured itself of not having to face any of the three group winners until at least the semifinals.
Blake Schilb scored 17 for the Czech Republic (1-2), which led by 10 early and was still within 60-54 midway through the third quarter.
In a flash, the Czech hope of a stunner ended there.
“I think the first half, we played amazing. … Second half, we ran out of gas,” Czech Republic coach Ronen Ginzburg said.
Durant — who passed Carmelo Anthony as both the U.S. Olympic men’s all-time points and all-time field goals leader during the game — hit a 3-pointer to end the third quarter, capping a 22-6 run that put the Americans up by 22 going into the final quarter.
The outcome was not in doubt again, and Durant said the scoring record was “special” to him on a night where the Americans engineered a 48-point turnaround from being down 10 to leading by as many as 38.
“You just think about all the players that played in this program,” Durant said. “Pretty cool to be amongst names like that. Carmelo is a guy that I played on two Olympic teams with, I’ve seen his approach to these games and I’ve tried to steal some of his techniques.”
Ondrej Balvin scored 15, Jan Vesely had 13 and Tomas Satoransky added 12 points for the Czechs, who were eliminated. The U.S., France, Australia, Spain, Slovenia, Germany, Italy and the winner of Sunday’s game between Argentina and host Japan will be playing on Tuesday, their medal hopes still intact.
Once in the quarters, it is win-or-else time. And the quarterfinals were the round where it all went awry for the U.S. at the last major international competition, the Basketball World Cup in China two years ago. The Americans lost to France, ending all hope of a medal and eventually finished seventh.
Here, it’s all about the medal — that is, one medal, and one medal only.
“We don’t plan on getting bronze or silver,” U.S. reserve Keldon Johnson said.
This U.S. team — which lost to France to open the Olympics before posting a 54-point win over Iran and a 35-point win on Saturday — hasn’t looked much like that World Cup team did two years ago, though it needed some time to find its best stride against the Czechs.
The Czechs led by as many as 10 in the first quarter, shooting 65% to the Americans’ 35% in the opening 10 minutes. With a roster featuring just one current NBA player — Satoransky — they did not look the least bit intimidated by the U.S.
“Congratulations to the USA,” said Satoransky, who revealed he’s been playing in the Olympics with a groin injury that he said will need time to heal. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t continue with the same type of basketball after the first half. … Obviously, they’re the best team in the world.”
Durant gave the U.S. its first lead midway through the second quarter, a 3-pointer putting the Americans up 34-33. The lead eventually got to as much as seven, before the U.S. settled for a 47-43 edge at halftime.
And that left some in the crowd — hundreds of people were in the lower bowl of the arena, even though no tickets were being sold — more than a bit anxious. Among them: Members of the German team; their hopes of qualifying as one of the top third-place teams hinged on the outcome of this game.
U.S. ousted by Canada in Olympic beach volleyball
TOKYO — The scoreboard at the Shiokaze Park beach volleyball venue said: “Challenge successful. Ball out.”
That didn’t make any sense.
And the Americans’ survival was riding on it.
“The referee just said, ’Wait, wait, wait. We’re sorting it out,” Canada’s Heather Bansley said on Sunday after winning a twice-reversed challenge to oust Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes 22-24, 21-18, 15-13.
“I think they’re just sort of working out some kinks,” said Bansley, a two-time Olympian who is paired with Brandie Wilkerson in Tokyo. “We trust the technology they have. At least you know the correct answer, and you work from there.”
After losing the first set and falling behind 10-4 in the second, the Canadians rallied to force a tiebreaking third set, first to 15 (must win by two points). They led 12-11 when Sponcil’s serve went past them and bounced off the sand.
The linesman’s ruling was that the ball was out, but the Americans challenged the call, using a system that was used in the Olympics for the first time in Rio de Janeiro. The close-up, slow motion replay on the stadium video board showed the ball had clearly missed the blue tape that signifies the court boundary.
It was out.
But somewhere in the process of getting that information to the court, there was a glitch: The video board said the ball was out and the challenge was successful, which isn’t possible. A member of the Canadian delegation sitting in the mostly empty arena shouted, “It was out!”
The players complained to the referee, and the stadium announcer explained that the challenge would be reviewed again. The call was corrected, and instead of a 12-12 tie it was 13-11, with Canada leading.
Claes said she’s never seen that before. (A team cannot appeal the decision in a challenge, but in this case the problem arose in communicating the decision to the players.)
“I thought it was in, and I mean, it sucks,” she said, noting that they blew a 10-4 lead in the second set. “It shouldn’t have even come down to that third set. We did such a good job in the second, and then just let them back in.”
Wilkerson, a first-time Olympian, knocked down a pass that got too close to the net for a triple set point, and they won it when she hit it over on the second shot to a wide open part of the court.
That ended the stay of Claes, 25, and Sponcil, 24 — the youngest American team ever to qualify for the Olympic beach volleyball tournament. They are both two-time NCAA champions — at UCLA and Southern California, respectively — and the first Olympians to come up through a U.S. college beach volleyball program that started in 2012.
Schauffele clings to lead as medals up for grabs in golf
KAWAGOE, Japan — Just over three weeks ago, Hideki Matsuyama was in isolation for COVID-19 and desperate to record a negative test to have any chance of competing in his home Olympics.
Even when he cleared that hurdle, it was a matter of building endurance for stifling heat and shedding rust from not having played a full tournament since the U.S. Open six weeks ago.
And on Sunday, he steps onto the tee in the final group, one shot behind Xander Schauffele, a gold medal within his reach for a country with high hopes for its Masters champion.
“I definitely could not have believed it,” Matsuyama said after a full Saturday that began with him capping off a 7-under 64 in the rain-delayed second round and then posting a 67.
“To be honest, the endurance part of my game has been struggling a little bit,” he said. “Thankfully, it’s held up the last few days. Hopefully, it’s going to hold up tomorrow, as well.”
Adding to the test was a medal round at Kasumigaseki Country Club that was wide open.
Schauffele, the 27-year-old American whose mother was raised in Japan, didn’t have a lot go his way Saturday until he finished on a strong note, firing a 9-iron to within 3 feet for a birdie and a 68 to keep his one-shot lead.
The Associated Press’ Jimmy Golen and Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.