Completing a third consecutive unbeaten run to gold, the United States crushed Serbia 96-66 in Sunday’s Rio Games basketball final to win its sixth Olympic title with NBA talent in seven tries. He dropped 30 points to lead Team USA to a 30-point win and claim his second career gold medal.
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In the space of two years, the sharpshooter has won a FIBA Basketball World Cup, won his first NBA ring and now is taking home an Olympic gold medal.
On August 12, Team USA barely escaped their contest with Team Serbia, winning just 94-91.
Team USA might have had numerous close games on their way to a gold medal, but nobody can complain about the end result.
In the second half, it was only a matter of settling the final margin and seeing some highlight-reel USA moves, notably an alley-oop slam dunk by DeMar DeRozan early in the fourth quarter.
The result marked the 15th gold for U.S. and stretched their overall win streak to 25 contests.
Krzyzewski finished his tenure as National Team head coach with an 88-1 record, including a flawless 24-0 mark in the Olympics. Carmelo Anthony is the only member of the team who has been a member of the last three American teams and leaves Rio as Team USA’s all-time leading scorer.
Kevin Durant led the way, hitting three-point bombs, driving for dunks, handing out assists and making steals on defense.
It signifies the beginning of a new era, with Durant emerging as Team USA’s undisputed star player.
Cousins had 13 points and 15 rebounds in the game.
The US squad’s first half was less than awesome, however, as they missed all six of their triples, shot just 5 of 17 early on and gave up the ball six times in the first quarter alone.
The Americans led 19-15 at the end of the first quarter, but it was all U.S. in the second quarter racing out to a 52-29 halftime lead.
Overall, the Americans outscored Serbia 33-14 in the second quarter of action.
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Sunday marked the final Team USA game for two figures who helped revitalise the programme after the bronze-medal disappointment of 2004.
