Durant moved to 30 points during the third-quarter which ended with the United States 79-43 ahead, and despite a late surge by Serbia the game was never a contest as such for the large crowd at the Carioca Arena.
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The victory completed another sweep of the basketball competition by the U.S. Men and Women and gave Mike Krzyzewski a 60-1 record as he retires as the head coach of the National Team.
“We came here and despite what people are saying about this group, being less talented and not blowing teams out, we did a good job of bottling all that up and unleashed it on Serbia”, forward Paul George said.
Coming out with their usual lineup of Kyrie Irving, DeAndre Jordan, Klay Thompson, Carmelo Anthony and Durant, the Americans started slowly, notching just 19 points in the first-quarter to lead by four.
Serbia lost only 94-91 to the US during pool play but was barely in the game again after a close first quarter.
He departs with the most gold medals of any player in Olympic men’s basketball history (three).
The U.S. held Serbia to 15 points or less in each of the first three quarters.
Anthony checked back into the rout in the final minutes so he could grab a seventh rebound, passing David Robinson for the USA record with the 125th in his Olympic career.
The Americans haven’t lost since, winning 25 straight in the Olympics.
The rout capped a brilliant tenure as Team USA head coach for Krzyzewski, who signs off after guiding the U.S.to three consecutive Olympic gold medals and an astounding 88-1 record in global competition. On both ends of the floor, it was the Americans’ most complete game of the tournament.
Krzyzewski said it didn’t matter how the Americans won, that there would be no questions as long as they did.
When the final horn sounded, the USA players shared long hugs with each other and then Krzyzewski.
It was a tough ending for after an impressive run for Serbia in its first Olympics as an independent nation.
Durant had a game-high 30 points while DeMarcus Cousins had 13 points and 15 rebounds for the US.
This was the first Olympic medal for Serbia since 1996 Atlanta Games, when the then Yugoslavia won the silver medal after losing to the US.
Serbia were guilty of missing too many shots and the United States capitalised, with Durant racking up 24 points as they went in at the halfway point with a 52-29 lead.
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Yet on Sunday, the Americans did.
