James’ left eye was left bloody after suffering a nasty injury during the win over Brazil
Team USA eased into the men’s basketball in Paris on Monday night, but a dominant win was bookmarked by a bloodied LeBron James and the looming threat of a familiar face.
The US were 122-87 winners over Brazil to complete the semifinal line-up for the Olympics, joining Germany, Serbia and host nation France in the hunt for the medals.
Despite the on-sided nature of the win there were plenty of talking points to emerge from the game, not least the condition of Los Angeles Lakers icon LeBron James.
As well as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer being forced off in the game, Kevin Durant cemented his status as an iconic figure for Team USA.
And with the other results on the night the path to gold for James, Durant and their teammates has now been laid out.
FIBA world champions Germany were the first team through, wrapping up a 76-63 win over Giannis Antetoukounmpo’s Greece and they were joined by Serbia who saw off Australia.
Victor Wembanyama and France delighted the home fans to come through a tough quarter-final with a Canada team that including Shai Gilgeous-Alexanders and Jamal Murray.
