“To go home as gold medalists and leave Coach K off with another gold was one of our main goals as well”, Durant told reporters. Scorching the nets with his flame-throwing jumper, attacking the rim with his go-go-gadget arms, howling and chest thumping, Durant unleashed the kind of performance that hinted that he’ll have little trouble adjusting to an All-Star roster with the Golden State Warriors.
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The U.S. beat Serbia by just 94-91 in pool play, holding on when Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The previous two Summer Olympic teams, 2008 and 2012, each featured four of the top five MVP candidates based on voting; this year, the team only had one in Kevin Durant.
“I mean I’m not just saying talent-wise”.
Kevin Durant earned his second gold medal Sunday.
In other highlights of Day 16, American wrestler Kyle Snyder won gold, becoming at 20 the youngest Olympic wrestling champion in USA history. He ruled out returning for Tokyo 2020. “I think it’s time to pass it on to some of the guys who have been on the team this year”, said Anthony. “The more interest in basketball on all levels, I’m for. I couldn’t be happier for him”. “I want to see their level raised”. “But I don’t know if I’ll play or not”, Durant told The Vertical. “You know the first one was ’96 and here we are 2016”. “That’s not going to happen”. “But we’re just going to continue to do everything that we do to stay on top”.
Basketball superpower the United States will face Serbia on Sunday in an Olympic men’s basketball David and Goliath gold medal final that will bring down the curtain on the Rio Games.
The trip wasn’t always easy, though they arrived at their expected destination.
“We’ve been helping in basketball around the world for 50 years”, Colangelo said.
Ten years ago it appeared that the level had been raised, with a string of humiliating global defeats between 2002-06. “So, I woke up, I guess”.
However, at the business end of the competition, the Americans showed their class and Durant in particular came up with a game-high 30-points in the gold medal game.
Jerry Colangelo was asked if the close games were a product of other teams catching up or the Americans simply not playing to their potential.
“You see guys who like to play, he loves to play”, Colangelo said of Durant.
During the 1996 Summer Olympics, all 12 players on the US roster were members of an All-NBA Team (First, Second, or Third); the 2016 squad only represented six – that’s half of what it was 20 years ago! “This was good for him, for his psyche”. (Nor should they, if they don’t feel up to it.) No, the status quo – players are inserted and removed from a wide field depending on who’s available – is the most likely future of USA Basketball.
Only the athletes receive Olympic gold medals, but Krzyzewski said USA Basketball gives the US coaches replica medals.
“I can’t let anybody steal my joy.”
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That bears repeating: Team USA is so good that Coach K turned Draymond Green into James Michael McAdoo in the knockout round. “That’s the spirit that you would like to have keep going for USA Basketball”. From the players on the latest gold-medal-winning roster, Durant is probably the favorite to claim the honor as the league’s best player next season.
