Head coach Steve Kerr agreed with Durant’s sentiment for how the team has been dominating compared to how close some of the games were during the USA Basketball Showcase, an exhibition tour in the lead up to Games against Olympic competition.

“I don’t know that I needed to say anything,” Kerr said in response to the team finding its new groove. “These guys have been around for a while, and when a game is a friendly and not a real tournament game, there’s probably not going to be quite the same level of focus and energy. So these guys have really turned it up. They’ve played really well for these four games. But our two toughest games will be the next two, no matter what happens. So we’ve got work to do.”

Embiid, 30, dropped 14 points on the night, one fewer than his tournament-best, which was scored in the 104-83 group stage win against Puerto Rico on Saturday. He also went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and had seven rebounds.

Embiid was in position to top that but rolled his ankle heading into the half. Kerr confirmed that he’s fine but was forced from playing the rest of the game as a precaution.

The 2023 NBA MVP had been dominating in the time that he did play. Every time he touched the ball, however, whistles came from the heavy French home crowd due to his decision to compete for Team USA. Embiid was eligible to compete for the U.S., France and Cameroon ahead of the Paris Games and decided to represent the red, white and blue after talking with his family.

It didn’t bother Embiid. It did the opposite in fact, as he invited their jeers in good fun.

“Everything is coming together (for Team USA),” Embiid said. “It’s good to have fun, too. And because at the end of the day, you got to take something out of this experience and that’s one of them. The fans want to go at me. I’m going to tell them to.”

And he expects more of it going into the semifinals on Thursday.

“It’s only going to get harder and harder,” said Embiid in response to having to play against Serbia again. “So we can’t take (Serbia) lightly because we beat them by a lot the first few games. It’s going to be a different mindset – it’s win or go home.”

The U.S. faces Serbia on Thursday, Aug. 8 at 3 p.m. ET. The Serbians completed a 24-point comeback win against Australia, 95-90, in overtime earlier tonight thanks in part to  three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić, who scored 21 points and 14 rebounds.