Kevin Durant admitted he wasn’t himself earlier in the men’s basketball competition at the Olympics.He took five shots against Venezuela, four shots against Serbia and six shots against France.
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Stewart got the spurt started with two free throws.
The triumph capped a brilliant tenure as Team USA head coach for Krzyzewski, who stepped down having guided the Americans to three consecutive Olympic gold medals.
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.
Carmelo Anthony had one last thing to teach his young teammates. Durant scored 30 points to lead all scorers, while chipping in four assists, three rebounds, and 2 steals.
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. We compared the winning margins of the different teams, which brings to a rather clear conclusion, if that kind of number satisfies the need to find one team that’s better than the rest.
A few of the victories were more hard than usual in this tournament, where half of the Americans’ eight games were decided by 10 points or fewer. Serbia outscored the Americans in the second half 50-44.
The U.S. men have always been an unstoppable force, taking gold in 15 of the 18 Olympics in which they have participated.
Gone was the all-offense, all-action play that turned the last two gold-medal games into classics.
Team USA led the game by 52-29 at half-time and Serbia never overcame the deficit.
Kevin Durant celebrates after United States of America defeated Serbia in men’s basketball by a final score of 96-66.
Serbia lost only 94-91 to the US during pool play but was barely in the game again after a close first quarter.
Every player on the American roster scored a point, while 12 of the 13 Serbia players had a point. The United States was locked in, and you could see the hunger in their play, wanting to make sure they not only won, but did so in dominating fashion.
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With the victory Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson joined one of basketball’s most exclusive clubs, becoming just the eighth and ninth players to win Olympic and FIBA world championship gold and an NBA title. It was a terrific Olympic games for them, and will look to evolve the sport even more in their country.
