The 2016 class under coach Mike Krzyewski may not have had quite the flair of past teams but overcame some testing group games with narrow wins over Australia, France and Serbia for another gold.
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Heading into Sunday’s gold medal game between the United States and Serbia, you could easily see a situation where the USA men’s basketball team would be going home without a gold medal for just the fourth time in tournament history.
Durant scored 30 points and helped the Americans jump to a huge lead by halftime.
Duke and United States National Team head coach Mike Krzyzewski became the first head coach to lead the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team to three gold medals on Sunday when the US routed Serbia, 96-66, to cap its run at the Rio Olympics. Krzyzewski finished his tenure as National Team head coach with an 88-1 record, including a flawless 24-0 mark in the Olympics. “I’m not going to be making excuses for anyone about our (dominance)”, Colangelo told reporters following the victory, according to USA Today.
Once the regular season starts, hopefully Durant treats a pursuit of an National Basketball Association championship the same way he did the endeavor for a gold medal. The game capped a brilliant tenure as Team USA coach for Krzyzewski who signs off having guided the USA to three consecutive gold medals in the Olympics and a near flawless record of 88 wins and 1 loss. This rematch looked nothing like that meeting, but it did resemble the final of the 2014 Basketball World Cup, which the Americans won 129-92.
“It was a special moment for me”, Anthony said in an emotional interview with NBC Sports after wrapping up his fourth Olympic run.
That experience shows up in Durant’s progression throughout the Olympic tournament.
“You never know what’s going to happen in four years”, he said.
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“I committed to this in ’04”, added Anthony, who would be 36 for Tokyo 2020.
