Team USA Basketball Adds Another Olympic Gold at Rio Olympics

After being besieged with criticism throughout the tournament, Team USA Basketball restored the balance of power with a blow-out victory over Serbia in the gold medal game of the Rio Olympics

Throughout the Olympics, stories began revolving that this version of Team USA Basketball wasn’t up to par with those of the past. In fact, it looked as if they might even be on the verge of an upset at times against Australia and Serbia.

But on the final day of competition in Rio, the USA Men’s Basketball team restored order to the basketball universe in a rout of the Serbian national team, 96-66, to win their third straight Olympic gold medal.

The first quarter ended close, but after that point the game was never in doubt. Kevin Durant had a golden performance in leading the team with 30 points for his second gold medal.

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After being the center of the NBA world in signing with the Golden State Warriors in free agency, he displayed why he is one of the best talents in the world in carrying the workload for Team USA in their final game.

Another player with a breakout game, DeMarcus Cousins, who’s 15 rebounds led the squad on the defensive end and helped the team to pull away further in the second half.

Perhaps most shocking was that to begin the game, Serbia took a 14-12 lead and had the arena holding it’s breath as it appeared they were going to be able to keep pace with Team USA.

Notably, after struggling to close-out teams in pool play, the team held Serbia to 38 percent from the field.

Carmelo Anthony, who became the leading scorer for Team USA during the tournament, was emotional in his post-game interview and stated that he was proud that the team could come together and his hopes that the country could do the same.

He also indicated that this would be his final appearance for Team USA Basketball.

For head coach Mike Krzyzewski, it was his final time at the helm of Team USA. Coach K has been part of the USA Basketball program for several decades, earlier in his career being a part of the coaching staff on the legendary 1992 “Dream Team.”

While he continues to keep Duke as one of the largest powerhouses in college basketball, he is known for being the head coach of the 2008 “Redeem Team” and being able to pull the squad together to play to their potential again in London and now Rio as well.

His lasting legacy, however, will be the national pride that he re-injected into playing for Team USA which has created a culture that the highly paid stars and athletes of the NBA want to be a part of.

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The team will now be coached by Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich who had his first experiences with the team over the summer in scrimmages with the select team to help the squad prepare for Rio.

Serbia was awarded the silver medal while Spain defeated Australia for the bronze to finish the tournament.