BASKETBALL / US routs Serbia for 3rd straight title

Instead, DeMarcus Cousins was more frequently on the floor, using his big body.

That’s when Kevin Durant stepped forward and made the gold-medal match his own, reminding the world’s basketball fans that the US has the best players in the world and that when “KD” gets on a roll, there’s no one on Earth capable of stopping him. They went 88-1 in worldwide play under coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has said the 2016 Olympics will be his last.

Durant picked up his second gold medal and while Carmelo Anthony and coach Mike Krzyzewski, coaching his last Olympics for Team USA before ceding to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, picked up their third.

The country’s determined men’s volleyball team won another sensational gold right next door to where Neymar and Co. did it less than 24 hours earlier in a thrilling penalty shootout against 2014 World Cup champion Germany. He was able to attend other Olympic events such as Michael Phelps’ races and the Saturday night gold medal men’s soccer game won by Brazil.

The first half ended with the Americans ahead 52-29 and playing like the confident, flamboyant side most expected to see once the roster was named.

Kevin Durant couldn’t quite find his place in the team picture after the basketball gold medal ceremony.

Krzyzewski sat Durant down and showed him game film of the 2010 World Championships, when Durant scored 23 points a game and was a willing and dynamic shooter. He is the Americans’ No. 2 Olympic career scorer in just two appearances.

When the final horn sounded, the USA players shared long hugs with each other and then Krzyzewski.

Serbia, participating in its first Olympics as an independent nation, hadn’t qualified for the Olympics since gaining their independence in 2006.

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. “We just raised the level of intensity and it was a great game”, Clay Thompson said.

A challenging year for the Americans started long before they boarded the cruise ship they stayed on while in Rio. But his presence became more important when some players, such as LeBron James, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, decided not to play in Rio.

The U.S. led 19-15 at the end of the first following a late 3-pointer from Durant, who was beginning to catch fire.

They won. And perhaps that’s all we really need to write about the Team USA men’s basketball team at Rio, which played a brand of basketball that left viewers underwhelmed throughout the tournament.

“I just told them, ‘Look at the highest flag, ‘” Anthony said, “and that’s what we did”.

“We started pretty good but in the second quarter we did not look like ourselves”, Serbia’s Stefan Marković said.

With that kind of sustained success, no one wants to say this is the best women’s basketball team ever assembled.

DOUBLE GOLD: French fighter Tony Yoka joined fiancee Estelle Mossely as gold medal winners, defeating Britain’s Joe Joyce in a super heavyweight bout Sunday.

RIO DE JANEIRO – Pau Gasol scored 31 points in perhaps his Olympic farewell and Spain added a bronze to its collection on Sunday with a victory over Australia.

Gasol and his teammates celebrated by piling on top of each other near center court. Patty Mills scored 30 and David Andersen 15 for the Aussies, who played nearly the entire second half without Andrew Bogut.

The Kenyan broke away at the 35km mark and romped home to win in a time of two hours, eight minutes, 44 seconds – over a minute quicker than Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa, who took silver.