Durant leads Team USA to victory
The best news Team USA received this summer was that Kevin Durant committed to play. On Saturday, he reminded everyone why.
On a night when he became the all-time leading American scorer at the Olympics, Durant added another tremendous performance to his resume for Team USA in a 119-84 win over the Czech Republic.
The win secured second place in their pool for Team USA and a spot in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Their opponent and game time will be determined in a draw on Sunday with the only certainty being that there can be no rematch with France until at least the semifinals.
Due to their two blowout wins in their last two games, Team USA will finish in a favorable position and avoid top medal contenders Australia, Spain and potentially even Luka Doncic-led Slovenia in the quarterfinals.
Durant finished with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, which was important to the cause of course, but his playmaking and defense were just as helpful as he grabbed eight rebounds and six assists as well. He was masterful in the third quarter, scoring 10 points with four of his assists as the game went from a tight contest to a comfortable drubbing.
Durant got off to a slow start in Tokyo, scoring just 20 total points in the first two games and shooting just 40%. Even in the previous practice games in Las Vegas, Durant wasn’t moving at full speed as he admitted it all felt like a workout and shot just 43%. He then fouled out in the opening loss to France, a key factor in the Americans’ offensive struggles.
With Doncic, who scored 48 points in his first Olympic game, impressing with a start and Australia’s Patty Mills pulling off big performances, Durant had faded into the background in the first week of the tournament.
All that lethargy disappeared on Saturday as he looked for his shot early. The Czechs got off to a good start, hitting eight of their first 11 shots and building a 10-point lead. But Durant led a charge to put them ahead, and his triple in the second quarter gave the U.S. the lead the rest of the way.
It was a relevant basket, not only because it put the team in front, but because it pushed Durant over Carmelo Anthony as Team USA’s all-time leading scorer. Durant’s international career is flawless, including the 2010 World Cup in Turkey, where he established himself as a centerpiece of the national team for the next decade.
It was also a big night for Jayson Tatum, who had his best game of the summer by scoring 27 points with five three-pointers. Tatum, bothered by a minor knee injury in Las Vegas, had lost his starting job. Coach Gregg Popovich had positioned him to be an impact scorer off the bench, but he was shooting just 40% in the first two games.
Jrue Holiday, who again was excellent defensively while relentlessly pressing the ball and coming up with three steals, had 11 points.
The Czechs were led by Blake Schlib, who played at Loyola-Chicago, with 17 points.
