Serbia actually outscored the Americans 23-17 in the final quarter of the Olympics, but it was nowhere near enough to make up for their dismal second and third quarters.
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An organized Serbian team produced enough trouble for the USA, as they did in the previous encounter, when the lead was exchanged five times and the game was tied four times in the first quarter.
“It has been the ultimate honour of my life in coaching and I’ve coached for 41 years”, said Krzyzewski. I’m a lifer in the game. I believe that. We got a lot of work to do. I just tried to go out there and be who I am. “And I stuck with it; we stuck with it. But Coach just told me to be me, and I went out there and did that”.
Mike Krzyzewski, who will cede the reins of Team USA to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, guided his third gold-medal winning team, a record for US coaches.
After being the center of the National Basketball Association world in signing with the Golden State Warriors in free agency, he displayed why he is one of the best talents in the world in carrying the workload for Team USA in their final game.
“So for me, I’m hanging these things up US basketball-wise”.
“The main thing is the memories”, Krzyzewski said. Consoling each other as they walked to the locker room, several Australian players broke down crying after the country’s fourth fourth-place finish. Continuity was supposed to be the new hallmark of Team USA.
Team USA beat its three opponents in knockout play by 73 total points.
Durant, who scored 18 of his 24 first-half points in the second quarter, joins the NBA Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors next season after their record-setting 73-win 2015-16 campaign. So did the US men’s basketball team.
Anthony checked back into the rout in the final minutes so he could grab a seventh rebound, passing David Robinson for USA record with the 125th in his Olympic career. DeAndre Jordan jumped around like a kid fueled by chocolate and soda. “We said it was a learning experience”.
Geno Auriemma turned to something very familiar to him to spark the Americans in the gold medal game on Saturday.
“To come out there and play as well as we did against a team that had stepped up their play as well, it showed that we came together at the right time”, Durant said. “As much as I’m going to miss it, it’s time to pass it on to some of the guys that was on our team this year but also to the younger guys coming along, to give them an opportunity to be a part of something great”.
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“It wasn’t as easy as we would’ve liked it, but this journey we had here in Rio, you can’t ask for nothing more than that”.
