Durant leads US to Olympic basketball gold

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.

Even with those early tournament scares, Team USA swept its games with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points-a hair above the 2000 team’s 21.6 points, though well off the original Dream Team’s 43.8.

The final gold medal went to the United States men’s basketball team after they defeated Serbia 96-66.

“It’s not that easy and people can say what they want to say, but it’s still up in the air”, he said.

Their win over Serbia was the most lopsided gold-medal victory since the 1992 Dream Team and USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo was unusually frank about why a significant gap continues to exist despite the growth of the game around the world and the global talent littered throughout NBA rosters.

It was also the farewell game for U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski, who will be replaced by San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

The US led 52-29 after two quarters, 79-43 after three before they won another one-sided game. “Each of their 12 guys can do that”.

When it comes to the women’s competition, it seems likely the United States will eventually claim the crown as the greatest Olympic team of all time.

Defensive Player of the Tournament: DeAndre Jordan, U.S.

Paul George said he and his teammates took out their frustrations on Serbia after hearing all the talk about them being less talented than previous US squads and not blowing teams out. And LeBron James, who’ll be 35 years old in 2020, specifically left the door open to join Popovich’s team, saying “It would be pretty wonderful to be able to actually play for the greatest National Basketball Association coach of all time”.

“They’ll be very, very hard for us”. The team owns a 60-1 record since that debacle.

Yet on Sunday, the Americans did.

Spain, which restricted the United States to an 82-76 victory in the semifinals, beat Australia 89-88 in a controversial finish to the bronze medal match. As he walked from a joint news conference with Anthony and Krzyzewski after the game, Durant wasn’t certain if he’d return to catch Anthony at Tokyo in 2020. Patty Mills scored 30 and David Anderson 15 for the Aussies, who played nearly the entire second half without former Warriors center Andrew Bogut. The 7-footer fouled out less than two minutes into the third quarter.