United States’ DeAndre Jordan, center right, cheers with teammates at the men’s gold medal basketball game against Serbia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016.
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RIO DE JANEIRO Aug 21 The United States won their third straight gold medal in men’s Olympic basketball, hammering Serbia 96-66 in the final at the Rio Games on Sunday.
With the win, the Americans claim the final medal of the Rio Games. Kevin Durant played the entire first half, was aggressive off the dribble, and had 24 points (18 in the second quarter) on 9-for-14 shooting before the break.
However, it was a different story in Sunday’s final as 30 points from Kevin Durant helped secure the most emphatic of American victories in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game as head coach. After the win, Carmelo Anthony also announced after that “this is the end”, meaning he played his last Olympic game with Team USA.
Durant moved to 30 points during the third-quarter which ended with the USA 79-43 ahead, and despite a late surge by Serbia the game was never a contest as such for the large crowd at the Carioca Arena.
They dropped three games in the group stage but had the look of a team that could challenge the Americans after almost knocking them off earlier in the tournament and overwhelming Australia in the semifinals.
“What I love most is these guys who have made these commitments, because it’s set the example for a younger generation in the United States as to where now everybody is proud of USA Basketball”, said the man known simply as Coach K. After Athens, USA Basketball dropped its slapdash method of assembling Olympic teams, and canvassed for players who’d stick around for multiple Olympics and world championships.
“We started pretty good but in the second quarter we did not look like ourselves”, said Serbia’s Stefan Marković.
Kevin Durant was the leading scorer for the US with 30 points, while Nemanja Nedovic led Serbia with 14 points.
Durant finished with 30 and DeMarcus Cousins added 13 in a balanced USA attack. All 12 USA players scored in the game.
The U.S. struggled earlier in the tournament but has been dominant in the medal round, beating Argentina, Spain and now Serbia en route to the Olympic title.
The U.S. continued to pour it on in the second half, making it a smooth gold-medal game after an Olympics filled with bumps in the road. He walks away with three gold medals.
Down two midway through the first, the US ripped off a 21-6 run to take a 33-20 lead in the early stages of the second quarter.
A challenging year for the Americans started long before they boarded the cruise ship they stayed on while in Rio.
Durant won his second gold medal. When Anthony exited the game with two minutes remaining, the New York Knicks forward shared a extended embrace with Durant and Mike Krzyzewski, who is stepping down as US head coach after these Olympics, before taking his place at the end of the bench.
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“It was a special moment for me”, said the 32-year-old.
