On the heels of their 96-66 win over Serbia in the gold medal game at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, team United States of America basketball is celebrating like it’s their god damn job. The team only lost one game while he was on the bench, and went undefeated in Olympic play.
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Pau Gasol scored 31 points in perhaps his final Olympic game and Spain added a bronze to its collection with an 89-88 win over Australia, again denied its first basketball medal.
With the win, Carmelo Anthony won his third Olympic title, setting the record for most Olympic gold medals won by a single player. The United States weren’t without their struggles in this Olympic run, but came together for an impressive finale that cemented their run as a successful one. As a whole, Team USA wasn’t challenged in the second quarter, outscoring Serbia 33-14.
Serbia didn’t play almost as well in the Gold Medal Game as they did nine days ago when they were a three pointer away from forcing overtime in the preliminaries. Serbia outscored the Americans in the second half 50-44.
Nemanja Nedovic led Serbia with 14 points. By halftime, the USA had extended their lead to 23 points.
The Americans had difficulty breaking down a determined Serb defense in the opening quarter but still ground out a 19-15 lead.
Durant led the team with 155 points over eight games, scoring 71 of them in the final three matchups. Thompson finished with 12 points on the day in nine minutes.
Yesterday, Team USA defeated Serbia 96-66. That 3 made it 52-29 over the stunned Serbs. “They did a great job”, Djordjevic said.
Durant and Anthony hugged late in the fourth quarter with the result long decided, and after the final buzzer, the Americans were dancing at mid-court in celebration.
Cousins had 13 points and 15 rebounds in the game.
Kyrie Irving also joined some elite company after the win, as he is now one of four players to win an Olympic gold medal and National Basketball Association championship in the same season.
After Jordan Burroughs was knocked out in stunning fashion Friday, Snyder was the last real chance the Americans had at a gold medal.
On the other side, Serbia takes home a silver, a huge accomplishment for the country.
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Maybe their games wouldn’t have been as close if all of their first choices had accepted a spot on the team, but that’s purely hypothetical.
