Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; USA forward Jimmy Butler (4), USA forward Kevin Durant (5) and USA center DeAndre Jordan (6) celebrate winning the gold medal in the men’s basketball gold medal match during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Carioca Arena 1.
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Reflecting on the match, United States of America guard Paul George added: “We played them already so we were familiar with the faces and familiar with their game”.
It was a close contest to start, as the USA led 19-15 after one, before Kevin Durant came to life. The 7-footer fouled out less than two minutes into the third quarter and spent the second half watching and worrying. He outscored Serbia by himself in the quarter, 18-14.
The Americans had a rocky start to the game in the first quarter when Serbia mucked up the proceedings by fouling the U.S.in transition and keeping the USA from developing an offensive rhythm.
Carmelo Anthony picked up his third gold medal in his fourth Olympics and said this would be his last Games.
Carmelo Anthony earned his third gold medal and fourth overall by leading a team stocked with National Basketball Association talent to a 96-66 win over Serbia.
“I know this is the end, this is it for me”, Anthony said. “I committed to something”. I’ve seen the worst and I’ve seen the best. Krzyzewski was 88-1 as the U.S. head coach. He took the reins in 2005 and helped to bring the United States back to the pinnacle of the global basketball world.
While there’s little doubt that the gold medal game was not as competitive as many expected, Colangelo appears to have forgotten the earlier struggles of his own team in this tournament. I’m here today three gold medals later.
Spain, which lost to the U.S. team in the past two Olympic finals, edged Australia 89-88 in the bronze medal game. The one color of Olympic medal he lacked in his illustrious career finally is his.
When the final horn sounded, the US players shared long hugs with each other and then Krzyzewski.
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But they have looked more like the gold medal favorites they were tipped to be in the quarters crushing Argentina 105-78 then dismissing Spain 82-76 to clinch a return to the final. In their first Olympic appearance in men’s basketball as an independent nation, Serbia comes away with the silver. Nemanja Nedovic had 14 points to pace Serbia.
