– The USA’s men’s basketball team on Sunday confirmed its historic hegemony in basketball, raising to 15 its Olympic titles by drubbing Serbia 96-66 for the gold at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Advertisement
For the third straight Olympic Games, the United States Men’s Basketball Team is standing on top of the podium, receiving gold medals after another undefeated tournament. U.S. held Serbia to 31 percent shooting in the first half and Kevin Durant scored 24 of his game-high 30 points before the break.
Durant’s teammate, Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, made his own piece of Olympic history with the victory, becoming the first basketballer to win three gold medals.
Serbia led 14-11 with 3:12 remaining in the first quarter when the Americans, who opened the game shooting only 5-of-17 from the floor, began a 32-8 run to break it open.
DeAndre Jordan made it 3-2 but missed tying the match from the free-throw line, underlining that the National Basketball Association stars were not in the game yet, with Serbia making life hard for them.
There were close victories against Serbia, France and Australia in pool play.
The Olympics couldn’t have come at a better time for Kevin Durant. Nemanja Nedovic paced Serbia with 14 points.
After the game, Anthony told NBC’s Rosalyn Gold-Onwude that the Rio tournament would be his last. He has now posted the two highest Olympic scoring totals for an American player with 155 points in Rio and 156 for another gold medal team in London.
The US’s winning margin was the biggest in a men’s Olympic basketball final since they beat Croatia 117-85 in Barcelona in 1992.
The Americans extended their lead in the third quarter and were up by as many as 41 in the fourth.
Despite falling to Team USA, the Serbian national team should be proud to take home the silver medal after surprisingly knocking out the Australian national team in the semifinals. Throw in two-time gold medalists Maya Moore, Tina Charles and Angel McCoughtry – who should all be back in 2020 – and there is another strong nucleus to build on for the Tokyo Games.
Advertisement
This gold medal win makes it three for three for Mike Krzyzewski in Olympic attempts as head coach of this squad.
