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LeBron James gets stitches after nasty injury in Olympic basketball quarter-final
Team USA has won medals in all nineteen Olympic tournaments it has entered, including sixteen golds
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Team USA confirmed their place in the men’s basketball semi-finals in Paris but there was an injury scare with LeBron James forced off through injury.
He was hit in the eye by a stray elbow from Brazil’s Georginho De Paula, during the 122-87 win, which required four stitches.
“I’m alright,” he told the official Olympics website.
“I got hit with an inadvertent elbow around the eye.”
The win means they join Germany, Serbia and host nation France in the hunt for the medals in Paris.
They face Serbia in Thursday’s semi-finals, while France take on Germany keeping alive hopes of the dream final between NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama and his France side and the all-star USA team.
“Every game is its own test,” added James.
“It doesn’t matter what happened before, it’s about what goes down Thursday night. So we need to lock in on our film session tomorrow, lock in during the day on Thursday and then come out and be ready to go.”
The match also saw Kevin Durant become the USA’s all-time leading scorer – male or female – in Olympic competition with 494 points.
He surpassed four-time Olympic gold medallist Lisa Leslie, who scored 488 career points during her Olympic career.
“Records are meant to be broken,” Durant, 35, told the Team USA website, in response to breaking Leslie’s record.
“So, somebody will come along and do the same. I’m focused on trying to win this gold.”
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