Leading the victory was the huge performance both in offense and defense of Golden State player Kevin Durant unleashing a game high of 30 points along with four assists, three rebounds, three steals and a block displaying the same level of fierce intensity which he showed in the London 2012 Olympics.
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Ok, ok, the rest of Team USA got one, too.
Kevin Durant couldn’t quite find his place in the team picture after the basketball gold medal ceremony. I’ve seen both sides of it.
Sergio Rodriguez made two free throws with 5.4 seconds left and the Spaniards, who captured silver in 2008 at Beijing and the London Games, got the defensive stop they needed as Australia fumbled the ball away on its last possession.
Kevin Durant scored 30 points in the final game with the national team for Mike Krzyzewski, who took the Americans back to the top and leaves with them there after becoming the first coach to win three Olympic gold medals.
USA Basketball is the height American exceptionalism. And while there is no evident cause-and-effect relationship at play here, there is a lot to be said about the learning experience that an global event entails – a process that begins at home. It’s not just how they played, but how they acted and how unselfish they were. I’ve seen the losing side and I’ve seen what it’s like to win three gold medals.
This is the United States team’s 15th Olympic gold in 18 appearances, not counting the boycotted Moscow Olympics.
The final two quarters were a mere formality but amid “we want more” chants from the United States fans the points kept coming even though Krzyzewski brought out the reserves in the final quarter.
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But along with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant and others, Anthony helped pump pride and power back into the USA program, which remains on top of the world. The tight games and nail-biting outcomes fueled criticism about the construction of the team. “We said it was a learning experience”. “I believed so much in the guys who were alongside me”. In order to fix this limitation, his colleague Neil Paine “generated projected wins above replacement (WAR) totals for them each year… and compared their actual WAR with what the system projected”.
