Brazil Mens Team Gets Labelled As Cinderella Of Paris Olympics Basketball – Insider & Steve Kerr Explain Why

The biggest talking point about Team USA has been their comparison with the Dream Team. No one is really bothered about the gold medal as the fans are already confident that the 4th consecutive one is coming. Steve Kerr‘s team has already asserted their dominance by scoring 100 or more points in every game so far. So, is the writing on the wall? What if a twist remains in the story thanks to the Cinderellas of the Olympics?

That’s what Brazil is being dubbed as by NBA insider Brian Windhorst. On the latest episode of SportsCenter, the ESPN reporter came out to send words of warning to Team USA. He even pointed out two major threats Steve Kerr’s team must overcome to progress beyond the quarterfinals.

“One of the few places where the US hasn’t excelled so far is protecting the offensive glass. They’ve given up 16 more offensive rebounds than they’ve pulled down themselves,” Windhorst highlighted during the show. In the three group games, Team USA have only managed to get on the end of 28 offensive rebounds and in none of the games they’ve outdone their opponents in this statistics. Windhorst further added, “Guess who is the number one offensive rebounding team in the tournament? How about Brazil? Brazil is the Cinderella so far of the Olympics. They somehow pulled off a win in Latvia to qualify for the Olympics. Then you know, were able to get the last spot to get this situation.” Brazil has recorded 39 offensive rebounds in 3 games, outperforming every team they’ve faced.

This is not the only issue Team USA will have to resolve on Tuesday. Windhorst also pointed out how Brazil are a shooting machine from the deep. “Three-point shooting has been their formula. That’s how you can get upset in basketball. They’re shooting 45% on 3-pointers so far in the Olympics on 34 attempts a game,” Windhorst informed. LeBron James and Steve Kerr are already aware of these threats from their upcoming opponents. So it’s now a matter of preparation rather than presumption for Team USA.

Steve Kerr is aware of Brazil threat

It won’t be an overstatement to say that Team USA have a kinder draw for themselves. All the heavyweights like Germany, and Canada, the two teams LeBron James believes will be the ones to watch out for, along with hosts France are already in a separate bracket. None of these teams will face Team USA before the finals. But Steve Kerr is not ready to look beyond them just yet.

“They’re very physical. I think they’re the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the tournament,” Kerr said about Brazil. “They’ve got a lot of really good shooters, and they just play hard. They compete play after play, so we’ll have to be ready for their physicality and their shooting, and we need to be on edge and ready for them because they’re not going to back down.” 

There’s respect in LeBron James’ voice as well while talking about their opponent. “I’ve watched all the games,” LeBron James said Sunday. “They’re very dedicated to their offensive and defensive systems.” The competition has reached its “800-meter sprint” stage as per Kerr. For Team USA, where expectations are at an all-time high, there will be no next game if they falter against Brazil. It’s time for LeBron James and Co. to make the clock strike midnight to end the Cinderella story once and for all.

And to absorb more interesting stories, watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where the prodigy puts Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr under the pump with loaded NBA questions and more in this video below.