The United States’ basketball team poses with their gold medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016. Anything less than a gold medal would be seen as a failure for a program as storied as Team USA’s. Team USA is now 138-5 all-time in Olympic play and has not lost since 2004.
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“I don’t think I can explain how I feel right at this moment”, he said, later adding he will retire as an Olympian.
The United States men’s basketball team have continued their Olympic domination – winning their third straight gold medal after a comprehensive 96-66 win over Serbia.
Milan Macvan led Serbia with five points after a quarter. He finished the half with 24 points to lead Team USA.
Two 3-pointers before a steal and dunk pushed the USA lead into double digits, and when he capped what may been the Americans’ best possessions in Rio, when they whipped the ball from side to side around the perimeter until it ended up in the hands of Durant, and then in the net. I’m a lifer in the game. His 16.3 points per game was the second highest in Team USA history, behind teammate Kevin Durant’s 19.5 points per game that same year.
“I thought Paul George came in, gave us a big lift”, USA assistant coach Tom Thibodeau said.
After being the center of the National Basketball Association world in signing with the Golden State Warriors in free agency, he displayed why he is one of the best talents in the world in carrying the workload for Team USA in their final game.
Geno Auriemma turned to something very familiar to him to spark the Americans in the gold medal game on Saturday.
Carmelo Anthony won his third gold medal in four tries on Sunday, and then he announced he was done with global competition.
“We did a good job of bottling all that up and unleashed it on Serbia”, George said. “I have no ego when it comes to that”. The other three are LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen.
The US were imperfectly ideal, at least compared with the high bar set by previous squads since the Dream Team in 1992.
“In spite of what people said about this group, being less talented, not blowing teams out, not putting people away”.
“I’d love to see that”.
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Krzyzewski, 69, will hand the reins to San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich as he leaves Team USA after almost 11 years and with a 24-0 record in the Olympics. “But Coach just told me to be me, and I went out there and did that”. And given the work that’s been done over the last 11 years or so, it’s hard to imagine USA Basketball taking a step back anytime soon.
