This was the last gold medal of Rio 2016 and the 25th Olympic victory of Team USA, which also had flawless 8-0 records in 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. DeRozan had an assist on the basket which gave U.S. its first lead at 16-14 and the Americans never trailed again.
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They were blown away though in the second quarter as the USA outscored them 33-14 to lead 52-29 at half-time.
Australia’s Patty Mills scored 20 of his team-leading 30 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to give his country what would have been its first Olympic medal in men’s basketball.
The US led 52-29 after two quarters, 79-43 after three before they won another one-sided game.
The Brazilian men volleyballers defeated Italy to win their third gold medal in the sport and cap their country’s best Olympic performance with a total of seven golds in the Rio Games.
The United States beat Serbia only 94-91 in pool play, holding on when Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
This year, many star National Basketball Association players opted not to participate in the Olympics, including LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade.
It was a wild ride in Rio, which featured several fantastic upsets, but the one, steady constant is that U.S. still reigns supreme.
He had also scored 30 in the 2012 gold-medal game, after he poured in a USA -record 38 in one game en route to the MVP of the 2010 world basketball championship.
It was always going to be a big ask for Serbia to end the USA’s 10-year unbeaten run at the Games – which stretches back to Athens 2004, when they were stunned in the semi-finals by Argentina – although their attitude and aptitude had pushed them close in the Rio 2016 preliminary round.
Moreover, Anthony became the first player to play in four separate Olympics for Team USA and he became the first basketball player to win three gold medals.
The final two quarters were a mere formality but amid “we want more” chants from the United States fans the points kept coming even though Krzyzewski brought out the reserves in the final quarter. The team owns a 60-1 record since that debacle.
Cousins had 13 points and 15 rebounds in the game.
Taurasi extended her record-setting pace from the three-point line.
The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team ended up right where expected.
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Two Olympics, two gold medals.
