Kevin Durant’s vintage performance lifted Team USA to a dominant 110-84 win over Serbia on Sunday in Lille, France, to begin Group C play at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
Playing in his fourth Olympics but returning from injury, Durant came off the bench at Pierre Mauroy Stadium and torched Serbia’s defense for 23 points in under 17 minutes. Team USA started slow and sloppy, falling behind 10-2 in a hurry, but everything changed once Anthony Davis replaced Joel Embiid — and especially once Durant first entered the game.
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LeBron James scored 21 points and fell just short of a triple-double. Steph Curry’s 3-pointer in the final seconds gave him 11 points, making it six Team USA players to score in double figures. Their bench outscored Serbia 47-23, which will be Team USA’s biggest advantage in the Olympics.
Team USA also outscored Serbia 52-35 in the second half.
Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic scored 20 points and also had eight assists, five rebounds and four steals for Serbia.
The only two players stuck to Team USA’s bench were Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton.
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Here are three takeaways from Team USA’s 26-point win over Serbia.
KD’s return
Coach Steve Kerr called for Durant to come off the bench at the 2:33 mark in the first quarter as Team USA trailed 19-14. They then led 25-20 going into the second quarter. When Durant went back to the bench with 6:40 remaining in the first half, Team USA’s lead had grown to 35-25, all thanks to the man himself.
Durant didn’t play in any of Team USA’s five exhibition games while nursing a calf issue, yet the 35-year-old immediately looked like someone in the midst of an MVP campaign the moment he entered the game. His first half was perfect, as he scored 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting, including 5 of 5 from 3-point range, and was a plus-17 -- all in just eight minutes and 39 seconds.
Perfect isn’t the appropriate word to describe Durant’s performance. One that extends to a new realm was needed.
Durant took only one shot in the second half and missed it, but he made his two free-throw attempts. He ended his first showing this year in Team USA threads as a plus-20.
Starter or reserve, Durant is Kerr’s ultimate cheat code on a team that badly needs his length and shooting ability.
Steph’s first showing
Playing in the Olympics for the first time can bring an entire new wave of emotions. Curry knows Kerr’s system blindfolded, and Team USA’s tune-up games allowed him to become more acclimated to different rules, court dimensions and the feel of the FIBA ball. Stepping on the floor in Lille, however, doesn’t compare to doing it in Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi or London, where the final scores didn’t count.
Butterflies perhaps were seen from Curry on Team USA’s opening offensive possession, as he tossed a soft inbounds pass that resulted in a turnover against Serbia’s aggressive defense. Curry never got going in the first half, scoring six points on 2-of-4 shooting, with all of his attempts being threes.
The biggest area of concern for Curry came in the third quarter, when he bumped knees with a Serbia player and immediately began limping. Curry signaled to Kerr and Team USA’s bench that he was OK, however, and he remained in the game.
A last-second three gave Curry 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting. He was 3 of 7 from deep as more of a secondary option than having to carry the offense.
Though the Americans didn’t need Curry to score in bunches this time, they very well could down the road.
Captain America
When Team USA needed someone to save them from an upset loss leading up to the Olympics, Kerr’s strategy was simple: Give the ball to James and get out of his way. The plan worked then, as it did against Serbia, too.
Durant wasn’t the only player perfect from the field headed into halftime, as James was Team USA’s second-leading scorer with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting. Two of the greatest Olympic basketball players of all time put on the kind of show everybody wanted.
James led Team USA in points and assists throughout their pre-Olympics showcase. At nearly 40 years old in his fourth Olympics, James led Team USA against Serbia in assists (nine) and rebounds (eight), and was two points behind Durant on 9-of-13 shooting.
Iconic photos. No-look passes. Rim-rattling dunks. LeBron made his presence felt, and the show goes on Wednesday against South Sudan.