By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Lille, France – Kevin Durant came off an injury, but didn’t miss a step. In his return to the USA national team, Durant had a perfect shooting first half with 21 points in less than nine minutes as the overwhelming favorite of the Olympic Basketball tournament beat medal contenders Serbia 110 – 84.
Durant finished the night with 23 points missing just one shot, LeBron James scored 21 also with one missed shot.
Jrue Holiday dropped 15 points, Devin Booker had 12 points, Anthony Edwards representing the young blood added 11, and Steph Curry on his long-awaited Olympic debut had eight.
Joel Embiid was also one of the faces of the game, getting booed by fans in Lille every time he touched the ball, presumably for choosing to play with the US and not with France or Cameroon, and recent NBA champion Jayson Tatum wasn’t used at all.
Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic led the losing side with 20 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 14 points and six rebounds.
“They wanted to make a statement in the first game and it just happened to play with us”, said Serbian coach Svetislav Pesic after the game to Serbian media. “We continue our work for the next two important games against Puerto Rico and South Sudan”.
Durant putting on a clinic
Serbia opened the game with a 10-2 run and forced an early timeout but at the end of the first period, USA was up by five (25-20) after a three by Kevin Durant and a dunk by Anthony Edwards.
With KD scoring 14 points in five and a half minutes, the lead jumped to 10 points (35-25). Jokic returned to the court and scored nine quick points, as Serbia trimmed the lead to four (40-36) and eventually to two (46-44) after a steal by the Joker and an easy basket by Ognen Dobric.
Still, Durant took over again with 5/5 threes in the first half, which ended with him scoring at the buzzer, USA leading by nine (58-49) and making in total 12/18 threes.
With LeBron scoring and Jrue Holiday adding a three, the second half started with USA being up by 14 (63-49). The Serbs couldn’t get into striking distance after that. The USA led by 21 (84-65) after a dunk by Bam Adebayo at the start of the fourth quarter and the game was over.
Photo credit: FIBA