What to know for USA men’s basketball as Olympic knockout round begins

After a perfect record in group play, the U.S. men’s national basketball team is now three games away from reclaiming gold.
The expectation for Team USA has been to go through the 2024 Paris Olympics without a blemish and thing are going according to plan. Despite having to juggle a loaded lineup, Steve Kerr has managed it well and the squad has won its games by an average of 21.3 points. Now comes the knockout round, where perfection will need to be maintained if it wants to win its fifth-straight gold medal.
Here’s what to know for Team USA before it begins quarterfinal play:
The 5×5 men’s basketball team roster was selected by USA Basketball Men’s National Team managing director Grant Hill, who won a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta as a player. The men’s national team representing the U.S. has a combined 10 Olympic gold medals between them heading into the 2024 Olympics: 
2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.
*Each asterisk represents an Olympic appearance (includes 2024 Paris Olympics)
The U.S. men’s national team went 3-0 during group play. It will play in the quarterfinals next. Here’s the dates for the U.S. games: 
The semifinals will be on Thursday, Aug. 8 (11:30 a.m. or 3 p.m. ET) and the gold medal game is Sunday, Aug. 11 (3:30 p.m. ET).
Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, is the head coach of the 2024 USA Men’s National Team. His assistants are Mark Few (Gonzaga), Tyronn Lue (Los Angeles Clippers) and Erik Spoelstra (Miami Heat). Kerr, along with Few, Lue and Spoelstra, previously led the U.S. men’s national team to a fourth-place finish at the 2023 FIBA Men’s World Cup in Manila. 
“My staff and I are honored to coach this amazing group of players in our quest to win Olympic gold in Paris,” said Kerr, who served as an assistant coach on the 2020 U.S. men’s national team that won gold in Tokyo. “We plan to represent USA Basketball with the utmost class and we hope to make our country proud.”
USA men’s basketball has earned 19 Olympic medals since the first Games were held in 1936, including 16 gold, one sliver and two bronze. The U.S. won its fourth consecutive gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 
Here’s how the American men have performed in the past four decades: 
Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony (2008, 2012, 2016) are the only two U.S. men’s basketball players to have won three Olympic gold medals. Durant can become the first to earn four gold medals. 
Here’s how everyone else’s medal count stacks up: