With the win, Carmelo Anthony became the first US men’s basketball player to win three Olympic gold medals.
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During the course of this tournament, Team USA beat their opponents by an average margin of 21.4 points per game.
“It was a special moment for me”, Anthony said of winning his third gold. He ruled out returning for Tokyo 2020.
“I know this is the end”. This is it for me.
I committed to this in ’04.
There appeared to be plenty of booze, music and women at this Greek rager, not that I’d expect anything less from the best basketball players on the face of the planet.
Why is China’s gold medal count at the Rio Olympics so low?
Mike Krzyzewski, meanwhile, became the first coach to win three gold medals in his final game on the bench with the national team.
The Americans went undefeated throughout the Olympic tournament, but several games were closer than expected, including a six-point win over Spain in the semifinals and three-point victories over France and Serbia in pool play.
Serbia lost only 94-91 to the US during pool play but was barely in the game again after a close first quarter. Durant, meanwhile, hit four three-pointers for 18 points in the period alone and had 24 at the half.
Ok, ok, the rest of Team USA got one, too.
That raised doubts about the ability of the newly assembled team to play as a unit and handle the perpetual motion of global play.
Durant said last month that he took refuge in his house for two days after announcing his decision to leave the Thunder for the Warriors. Despite everything that’s going on right now in our country, we got to be united. Cousins scored inside and at the free-throw line and had a double-double (11 points and 12 rebounds – 5 of them on the offensive end) at the break.
A narrow 82-76 win in the semifinal against Spain on August 19 was the fourth time in five games that the USA won by 10 points or less.
“We’re a confident group”. Serbia outscored the Americans in the second half 50-44.
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The final two quarters were a mere formality but amid “we want more” chants from the USA fans the points kept coming even though Krzyzewski brought out the reserves in the final quarter.
