It was a huge day for Kevin Durant and Team USA men’s basketball.
Just a few hours before tip off in the Olympic gold medal game, the versatile 6-10 forward agreed would sign a four year, $198 million contract with the Brooklyn Nets. Then he celebrated by scoring 29 points as the United State defeated a good France team, 87-82, in Japan to win his country’s fourth consecutive gold medal and 16th overall.
There is little argument that Durant is the best U.S. Olympic men’s basketball player ever.
He has set golden standard for Team USA in the last 12 years, scoring 30 points against Spain in the 2012 game in London and 30 more against Serbia in the 2016 games at Rio before his latest masterpiece. Durant leaves a brilliant legacy with his willingness to play for his country after a long NBA season where many stars took a pass , becoming a pied piper who attracted some of the better players in the world to play with him. .
Durant, the USA’s all time highest career scorer, was there whenever Team USA needed him throughout this tournament, shooting 9 for 18 and making big shots in the first half when his teammates couldn’t against in the first half against Spain, Australia and France in the medal round, then taking over the game in the third quarter with his unstoppable pull up game.
It was a brilliant, prolonged showcase for the best player in the world who scored 21 points in the first half against a physical French team that had an overwhelming size advantage and six NBA players. France defeated Team USA in the 2019 World Cup and a 3021 pool round game and were competitive though out this game, constantly using 7-2 center Rudy Gobert inside in an attempt to get Durant into foul trouble the way they did in the pool round. Gobert, who finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, drew nine fouls, three of them on Durant.
The strategy might have worked if Gobert had been a better free throw shooter. But Gobert did not a field goal attempt but made just 6 of 13 free throws.
As it was, France created some drama, overcoming 18 turnovers to cut a 14-point lead to three with 10 seconds left on two free throws by Nando De Colo. But Durant made a pair of free throws with 8.8 seconds left to close the game out. .
The Americans celebrated like college kids, wrapping themselves in American flags and giving each other hugs, This team played with the emotional drama of a Pandemic laced NBA season and they traveled to Japan with just eight players because three members of the roster– Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton– were participating in the NBA championship series and another, Zach LaVine, was in health and safety protocol.
“This is one of those special journeys,” Durant said. “When you’re a part of a team that’s evolving by the second, it’s amazing to see. I’m grateful we all committed to it, we stuck with it and we finished it off.. It is just special to be part of something like this. I’ll be bonded to these guys for life.”
Durant constantly rescued for the Americans, who were plagued by poor shooting in the last three games, when they shot 10 for 48 from the shortened international three point line.
“KD is not special because he’s so talented,” U.S. national team coach Greg Popovich said. “The way he works on his game is more impressive. The relationship he builds with teammates, the respect he garners, the joy he has in playing. it’s like osmosis. it goes into all the players.”
Durant’s teammates appreciate it.
“Kevin Durant is exactly who we thought he was,” said Draymond Green, who played with him in Rio. “He’s one of the greatest players to ever play this game. One of the most special guys you’ve ever seen lack their shoes up and take a basketball court.”
With Durant wearing down in the second half, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics took over as a scorer off the bench, scoring 19 points with two critical three pointers in the fourth quarter when France was making a surge. Holiday, the Americans’ best on the ball defender, also came up big, scoring 11 points and putting the clamps on French guard Evan Fourier, who had burned the USA for 28 points in the pool round victory. This time, Holiday hounded him into 16 points on 5 of 15 shooting.
Holiday and Middleton are just the fifth and sixth players to win both an NBA title and an Olympic title in the same season. The others are LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
“I guess me thinking about it and and me telling the story, that’s a hell of a summer,” Holiday said.
