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Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior Writer
PARIS — If there’s one thing Joel Embiid has learned during the Olympics, it’s the French can boo him but no one here can stop him from doing the crotch chop.
The American center’s comfort level dealing with adversity mirrored the rest of his teammates Tuesday as Team USA put on a clinic in a 122-87 quarterfinal victory over Brazil. They are now two wins away from a fifth consecutive gold medal and set up for another meeting with Serbia in the semifinals Thursday.
Kevin Durant added 11 points for Team USA, passing legend Lisa Leslie for the most points in American Olympic history.
Not only did Embiid laugh his way through the jeers from those still annoyed he passed on France’s offer to join its national team, but he was all too happy to pull out one of his favorite celebrations with the WWE-inspired chop maneuver. Embiid has been fined twice — for $60,000 — for it by the NBA, but on this night league commissioner Adam Silver was only at Bercy Arena as a fan.
The U.S. needed some production from Embiid against a Brazil team whose strength was on their front line. He was dominant right from the start, effectively cleaning the glass and showing off his classic mix of interior and perimeter scoring.
In 12 devastating minutes of work in the first half, Embiid put in 14 points with seven rebounds. Brazil was helpless in dealing with him as he made five of six shots, including two 3-pointers. The boos from the fans ebbed, which only seemed to encourage Embiid to ask for more of them before he took the second half off.
The antics were part of the low-stress evening Team USA was hoping for, especially after seeing underdogs apply all sorts of pressure during the day including France upsetting Canada just as the Americans were arriving at the arena.
All in all, it was a brilliant display of precision basketball led by LeBron James, who is steadily assembling a case for Olympics MVP. James was the catalyst for a impressive display of selfless offense, throwing an array of jaw-dropping passes that led to easy baskets for his teammates.
The most memorable happened just before the end of the first half on an inbounds pass. From halfcourt James threw a no-look frozen rope that threaded a tight window between Brazilian defenders and ended up perfectly in the hands of Jayson Tatum for an alley-oop.
James has thrown some passes for the scrapbook already during the Olympics, and all he did Tuesday was pile up nine assists in just 12 minutes, plus 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. The only thing keeping it from being a perfect night was an elbow.
Brazil’s Georginho De Paula caught James above the left eye going for a rebound midway through the third quarter, opening up a cut. James exited to the locker room and did not return.
James’ lead was infectious as Team USA displayed perhaps its best ball movement of the summer. The Americans had 18 assists on their first 19 baskets.
Devin Booker, who has been one of the Americans’ steadiest players, ended up leading the team in scoring with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Brazil was led by former NBA player Bruno Caboclo, who had 24 points.