Basketball at the 2016 Olympics continues Sunday as the group stage winds down with a full slate of action. The quarterfinals for the women’s tournament begin Tuesday, while the men’s tournament starts Wednesday.
Olympic basketball schedule 2016: U.S. men face France in final group stage game
The American teams conclude their group stage runs in Rio on Sunday.
Both U.S. basketball teams will be finishing up their group stage runs Sunday. The women’s team will start off the day with a morning matchup against China at 11:15 a.m. ET. Diana Taurasi has been racking up threes for Team USA, which has had little trouble running all over the competition so far. China is still battling for one of the final spots in the quarterfinals with Serbia, so this is a big game for them. The Americans will try to spoil that effort with a fifth straight win in Rio.
The men’s team will be taking on France at 1:15 p.m. ET in a big game full of NBA stars. The Americans are coming off a pair of close wins over Australia and Serbia, so they’ll be looking to step on the pedal a bit more in this one. The French have won three straight games since an opening loss to the Boomers and look like one of the more dangerous teams on the men’s side. Both teams have already clinched spots in the quarterfinals, so this isn’t a must-win for either one. Still, you can imagine the U.S. will want to perform better than it has recently.
There are two other big games on the men’s schedule because Serbia and Venezuela are still fighting for the final spot in Group A to advance to the quarterfinals. On Sunday, Serbia faces China and Venezuela takes on Australia. The odds are heavily in Serbia’s favor, as Venezuela’s only path is a win and a Serbia loss. If both teams lose -- which is unlikely given how much Serbia will be favored over China -- then Serbia will still get the final spot because it won their head-to-head matchup.
So that’s where the real stakes lie on Sunday because the Americans’ spots in the quarterfinals are already safe. NBC Sports will have the action live, so here’s the schedule and how to tune in.
Olympic basketball schedule for Sunday, August 14
Women’s basketball
United States vs. China, 11:15 a.m. (TV: NBC, Basketball Specialty Channel | Streaming: NBC Sports Live)
Senegal vs. Serbia, 2:30 p.m. (TV: Basketball Specialty Channel | Streaming: NBC Sports Live)
Spain vs. Canada, 4:45 p.m. (TV: Basketball Specialty Channel | Streaming: NBC Sports Live)
Men’s basketball
United States vs. France, 1:15 p.m. (TV: NBCSN, Basketball Specialty Channel | Streaming: NBC Sports Live)
Australia vs. Venezuela, 6 p.m. (TV: Basketball Specialty Channel | Streaming: NBC Sports Live)
Serbia vs. China, 9:30 p.m. (TV: Basketball Specialty Channel | Streaming: NBC Sports Live)
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