After coming off the bench in the opening two group games, Golden State Warriors forward Gui Santos has made his first career Olympic start in Brazil’s 102-84 victory over Japan on Friday.
Santos had tallied 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists across 53 total minutes in the first two outings, yet saw considerable more playing time in the must-win matchup against a Japan team missing their best player in Rui Hachimura.
Golden State Warriors forward Gui Santos played a team-high 34 minutes to help keep Brazil’s Olympic dream alive
Santos played the entire opening period as Brazil opened up an 11-point lead, with that margin remaining after an evenly-matched second-quarter. The 22-year-old then played the entire second half, helping his nation to victory after Japan had cut their lead to four entering the final period.
Despite playing over four minutes more than any of his teammates, Santos saw just five total shot attempts in finishing with five points, four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in just over 34 minutes.
Santos’ first basket came late in the first-quarter when he drove hard to the basket, smartly shook former NBA player Yuta Watanabe with a clever pump-fake, and finished the layup. His only other points came early in the third-quarter when he spotted up and knocked down a wide-open corner three off a fast-break.
The former second-round pick was solid defensively as Japan were kept to less than 40% shooting for the game. Santos produced a highlight chase-down block in the closing minutes with the Brazilians winning the fourth-quarter 25-11.
Seven-year NBA veteran Bruno Caboclo led the way for Brazil with a blistering 33 points and 17 rebounds on 13-of-19 shooting including 4-of-4 from three-point range. Opposing big man Josh Hawkinson had a team-high 26 points and 10 rebounds for Japan on 5-of-6 three-point shooting.
The 18-point victory keeps Brazil’s Olympic dream alive, with the team now relying on other results in order to finish as one of the two best third-placed teams who will advance through to the quarter-finals.
