Although the Americans traditionally dominate the sport in the Olympic Games, they do not have an easy path to the gold medal by any means.
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The only USA male player to be chosen for four Olympic teams, Anthony became the first to win three golds as the Americans saved their best for last and crushed Serbia 96-66 on Sunday.
Two Mongolian wrestling coaches stripped off their clothing to protest…
There were close calls, but they still went 8-0, played their best game with gold on the line, and stood on the top step of the podium on Sunday afternoon. Kevin Durant scored 30 points and helped the Americans jump out to a huge lead by halftime.
“We did a good job of bottling all that up and unleashed it on Serbia”, George said.
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo refuses to apologise for the Americans’ dominance of worldwide basketball and says it is on other nations to raise their games in order to challenge them.
With the win, U.S. forward Carmelo Anthony became the first man with three Olympic basketball gold medals.
In a rematch of their August 12 pool play game in which they won by just three points, Team USA wasted little time pulling away in this one. This rematch looked nothing like that meeting, but it did resemble the final of the 2014 Basketball World Cup, which the Americans won 129-92.
Durant was also the top scorer in the 2012 Olympic tournament and its final against Spain (also with 30 points), while DeMarcus Cousins had 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Kevin Durant said his experience in Rio de Janeiro with Team USA provided a needed escape from the backlash he has received after leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to sign with the Golden State Warriors.
BY beating Serbia, USA lead to their 25th straight win on Olympic hardwood.
A few of the victories were more hard than usual in this tournament, where half the Americans’ eight games were decided by 10 points or fewer. Neither Barnes at North Carolina nor Irving at Duke won a national title or went to a Final Four, but they both have won NBA titles and united with Krzyzewski in Rio to win the global game’s ultimate prize.
The United States gave fans glimpses of their dominant best in Rio but their play did not always live up to the high expectations that follow them to every Olympics.
Other teams don’t train for much longer than that, but nearly all of them have more roster continuity than the US does. “. America will be great again, I believe that”.
Serbia was on a run of impressive performances in their own right. The heart of an worldwide power in the former Yugoslavia, the Serbs hadn’t qualified for the Olympics since gaining their independence in 2006.
The Americans also had tough, close games against Australia, Spain and France, and often looked vulnerable, particularly on defense.
In Sunday’s gold medal game, Serbia actually led for most of the first quarter, indicative of the U.S.’s struggles throughout the tournament. That 3 made it 52-29 over the stunned Serbs.
Gone was the all-offense, all-action play that turned the last two gold-medal games into classics.
It flowed against the tide of the USA’s previous appearances in Rio with three teams, the Serbs included, pushing them all the way to the wire with their enormous talent undermined by a lack of coherence and the habitual wish of every opponent to be the one to take the most prized of scalps.
The last USA points of the first half came after a four-pass sequence around the perimeter with at least two extra passes that got the ball back in Durant’s hands for a wide-open 3-pointer to put the United States up 52-29 and leave the Serbians dizzy.
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Galen Rupp won the first medal for the Americans Sunday, when he scored the bronze prize in the men’s marathon.
