The U.S. had struggled in.
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He won gold in 2008, 2012 and now again in 2016 following a 30-point victory over Serbia Sunday.
The triumph capped a brilliant tenure as Team USA head coach for Krzyzewski, who stepped down having guided the Americans to three consecutive Olympic gold medals.
“I knew this is the end”. It was their 25th straight win at the Olympic Games, and their 15th basketball title in all.
“We came here and won in spite of what people were saying about this group being less talented, not blowing teams out, not putting teams away”, forward Paul George said.
The U.S. beat Serbia by just 94-91 in pool play, holding on when Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
It’s the first gold medal for Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne, and Breanna Stewart.
When the two teams faced off in the preliminary round, Serbia battled the entire game and only lost by three points. Consoling each other as they walked to the locker room, several Australian players broke down crying after the country’s fourth fourth-place finish.
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.
Durant finished with 30 points, winning his second gold medal in two Olympic appearances.
It was the lowest-scoring game for the Americans in the Olympics since the 2004 semifinals, when they managed 81 in a loss to Argentina.
A few of the victories were more hard than usual in this tournament, where half the Americans’ eight games were decided by 10 points or fewer. The United States was locked in, and you could see the hunger in their play, wanting to make sure they not only won, but did so in dominating fashion.
For the sixth Olympics running, the United States women’s basketball team is golden at the Olympics.
Yet it was clear on the US bench at the end, amid a hearty round of hugs for Anthony once the expected medal shade of gold began to sink in, that Krzyzewski was as fond of this group as any of the squads that preceded it.
The Americans also had tough, close games against Australia, Spain and France, and often looked vulnerable, particularly on defense.
“Maybe they could come close, but none of them could beat us”, he said. “Each of their 12 guys can do that”.
Diana Taurasi and the Americans played almost flawless basketball in Rio, and were never challenged. Anthony, so often criticized for not winning National Basketball Association championships, became the model for US players. “We just raised the level of intensity and it was a great game”, Clay Thompson said. “We did a great job of being mindful of all that, bottling all of that up and really unleashing it against Serbia”.
Ewing, who famously won gold with the first Dream Team in 1992, said this year’s version of Team USA, wouldn’t have got anywhere near the first Dream Team, which featured superstars Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Scottie Pippen.
Yet on Sunday, the Americans did.
Earlier, Spain edged Australia 89-88 to take home the bronze.
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Gasol, who will spend this upcoming National Basketball Association season in San Antonio and hasn’t committed to playing at Tokyo in 2020, and his teammates celebrated by piling on top of each other near center court.
