PARIS, France (AFP) — The unbeaten United States, led by National Basketball Association (NBA) superstar LeBron James, aims to take their pursuit of a fifth straight Olympic basketball gold medal to the next level when it faces Brazil in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. 

The Americans rolled through the group stage with a perfect 3-0 record and a tournament-leading plus-64 point differential, but coach Steve Kerr said there are things the United States must improve if they want to emerge with gold when men’s basketball concludes on Saturday.

“We know we have to play better,” Kerr said after the United States prepared to shift from Lille to Bercy Arena in Paris for the knockout phase. 

“Part of this tournament is it gets harder as you go,” Kerr said. 

“We have to take better care of the ball.” 

“We don’t need to make home run plays. We just need to hit singles. Our talent is overwhelming if we make the right play, and I think that’s part of it.”

The winner of USA-Brazil will face either NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic’s Serbia or Tokyo bronze medallists Australia in the semifinals.

Australia surprised the Serbians in an Olympic tune-up game last month.

On the other side of the draw, host nation France and their fledgling NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama take on Canada while Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece face World Cup champions Germany. 

Kerr is spoiled for choice with a roster that includes James, two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant, Golden State sharp-shooter Stephen Curry and the NBA champion Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, to name just a few.

But he says his array of superstars must focus on the basics.

“Offensive rebounds,” Kerr said. 

“Our opponents are getting a lot of offensive boards, so just continuing to harp on box outs and extra possessions and making sure that teams aren’t able to even out the game with all those extra possessions from our doing.”

Brazil’s former NBA first-round draft pick Bruno Caboclo averaged 16 points and 7.3 rebounds as Brazil went 1-2 in group play. 

Vitor Benite connected on 56.3 percent of his three-point attempts, but Brazil just don’t look like having the firepower to challenge the United States offensively.