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LILLE, France – Watch for Kevin Durant next time he takes over for Team USA at the Olympics. He is lurking. He is hunting. He is waiting. And then he hits, without mercy and without stopping. As long as he is by your side, it is very nice to see.
Yes, the Slim Reaper is back. Durant, who is already the United States’ Olympic scoring leader, added his international story Sunday evening. Playing in his first game since the playoffs due to a calf injury, Durant poured in 21 points in the first half to help the United States shut down Serbia’s offense and clinch the victory. 110-84 in its first game of the 2024 Olympics.
“Probably more than any player I’ve been around, when he comes back from a long absence, you don’t realize it,” Team USA head coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “I mean, he’s very good, and he looked like he was in the middle of the season after not playing real basketball for a couple of months. It’s a very strange thing. ”
Durant spent the entirety of Team USA’s Olympic exhibition season, and now it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that they fought hard in those five games. His appearance late in the first quarter was timely, helping to settle an American team that initially struggled to contain Serbia’s powerful attack led by three-time defending NBA MVP Nikola Jokić .
“He’s an impossible cover,” Kerr said. “The strength of our team is our depth, and we’re going to — we’ve got three guys who can guard him.” That was the way to do it, just rotate guys around him and cross your fingers because he’s a good player. “
For a team full of its MVPs and NBA players, the United States looked woefully out of sorts early in the first quarter of its first Olympic game. Kerr had a starting lineup of LeBron James, Steph Curry, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid and Jrue Holiday, and that venerable group immediately ran into trouble.
Curry, making his Olympic debut, earned the honor of leading the Americans on the court for warmups. But his first match as an Olympian ended up at the hands of Serbia’s Aleksa Abramovic, who took the other way for the first points of the match.
“We’re trying to create our own identity on who we are on this 12-man team,” Curry said. “It’s important to stay focused not just on winning, but how we do it.”
Embiid appeared ineffective for much of the game, missing free throws, committing low fouls and getting bullied into blocks. Maybe it was nerves, or maybe it was the constant barrage of sounds and melodies that accompanied his every shot, trick or appearance on the screens above. It seems that French basketball fans are not ready to forgive Embiid for the crime of choosing to play for America instead of France. (Neither Embiid nor Jokić spoke to the media in the mixed media area of the game, ignoring opportunities to comment.)
Kerr had said before the game that he wanted the United States to play a fast-paced offense, to guard against international teams camped in the paint. It was a good feeling, except that Serbia decided to play basketball even faster, which frustrated the US into bad passes and cheap turnovers throughout the first half. .
LeBron James, who just led the United States up the Seine during Friday’s Opening Ceremony, scored America’s first points in a lopsided game. But the real hero of the first half was Durant, who went in with 2:33 left and proceeded to drain his first 3-pointer 14 seconds later.
“If you watch him in practice, everything he does is game speed,” James said. So it’s no surprise that he went out and got to it. But it’s nice to have him by your side. ”
“That’s what I was thinking about going in, you know, staying ready, mentally focused on what the game plan is,” Durant said. And when I come in, don’t make a game of it.
Durant’s first run lasted more than six minutes over the first and second quarters, but he dropped a much-needed, game-changing 14 points — twice as many as any other player on the team. every time he leaves the field. He wrapped up the first half with five points in the final 36 seconds, including a timeout that left him flat on his back, with the United States up 58-49.
“We wanted to limit his minutes and make it easier for him to come in. He didn’t back down. He was smart,” Kerr said.
The second half was a mess – Embiid, James and Booker all put Serbian defenders on their backs at one point or another – but it was also inevitable, as United The States continue to increase their lead and contain a frustrated Serbian team.
The decisive moment of the game came when James was about to give the US a 14-point lead, and ended up falling to the ground with Nicola Jovic of Serbia on top of him. James simply dropped Jovic, jumped to his feet, and bowed before the Serbian bench, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader and Team USA leader who called.
Durant led all scorers with 23 points, and when he exited the game with 5:33 left, he received a standing ovation from the crowd. James finished with 21 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds in the biggest game ever. Jokić led Serbia with 20 points and 8 assists.
Every player on Team USA except Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum got minutes and points. But Kerr said not to read anything into that going forward; getting enough minutes for 12 players in a 40 minute game is a difficult task.
“The bottom line — and our guys know this — the key to this whole thing is to put all the NBA stuff in the rearview mirror and win six games,” Kerr said. “And Jayson is a professional and the ultimate champion, and he’s done well, and he’ll be ready for the next one.”
Among the backups, Anthony Edwards, in particular, brought fire. He spent most of the game in a fight with a honking fan behind the United States bench, glaring at a fan after he drained a 3-pointer, and later, making a nice layup that went leave Serbia’s defense vulnerable.
The United States now moves on to play South Sudan on Wednesday, a team that gave the Americans unexpected challenges during the exhibition. But this time around, the Americans have to have KD on the line, and that alone could make all the difference.
“I was tired, I’m not going to lie to you,” Durant said. “My lungs were getting used to it. I feel like I’ll try it again, but I felt it was better to give it a shot. ”
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