With the women's semifinals officially set, now it's the men's turn to take center stage at La Concorde with one more pool play session followed by two play-in games to determine which teams will advance to the semifinals on Monday. The U.S. is still very much alive despite a bumpy start, but everything remains up in the air in a crowded race for the top six spots. Let's break it all down.
What to watch for in Olympic 3x3 basketball: August 4
Can the U.S. stay alive?
These Olympics certainly didn't start out the way the U.S. men's 3x3 basketball team had envisioned. Pegged as medal contenders coming in, Team USA lost each of its first three games, then lost star guard Jimmer Fredette to a groin injury.
But as they say, it's not how you start, it's how you finish — and thanks to some Herculean efforts, the Americans look like they could finish with a bang. Canyon Barry has erupted offensively with Fredette out, leading the U.S. to two straight wins that have resuscitated its hopes of advancing out of pool play. (As a reminder, the top two teams in the standings head straight to the semifinals, while teams 3-6 advance to two play-in games and teams 7-8 are eliminated.)
Those hopes have been realized just yet, however. There's still one more game of pool play remaining, and at 2-4, the U.S. sits in a precious tie for fifth — ahead of seventh-place Poland on point differential and just one game ahead of last-place China. All of which makes the team's game against the Netherlands a must-win, and a tricky one at that: The Dutch are 4-2 so far and boast a legitimate 3x3 star in Worthy de Jong.
Tipoff is set for around 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Serbia-Lithuania showdown
The most compelling non-U.S. game of the final pool play session is between 4-2 Serbia, the current world No. 1 and reigning World Cup champions, and 3-3 Lithuania. Serbia currently occupies second place in the standings and an automatic berth in the semifinals, but that could change if Lithuania pulls the upset here. Serbia having to go through the play-in games would be a major surprise; it didn't drop a single pool-play game in Tokyo.
Who goes home, who moves on?
Reigning gold medalists Latvia are locked into the top spot at 6-0. Serbia will clinch the second semifinal spot with a win over Lithuania. If Serbia loses, though, it would be chaos atop the standings, with Lithuania potentially leapfrogging into the No. 2 spot if the Netherlands loses to the U.S. If the Dutch win, however, a Serbia loss would put them at second.
At the bottom of the standings, it seems likely that 1-5 China is going home, but any of 2-4 U.S., France or Poland could be joining them. Heck, if those three all win, Lithuania could be in trouble at 3-4. Prepare for a wild afternoon at La Concorde.