U.S. DOMINATES
Kevin Durant admits he wasn’t himself early on in Rio, but he came back with a flourish, leading the U.S. team to gold against Serbia.
Kevin Durant admitted he wasn’t himself earlier in the men’s basketball competition in the Olympics.
He took five shots against Venezuela, four against Serbia and six against France. That’s not the Durant USA Basketball needed in Rio with 10 first-time Olympians on the roster. It needed the scoring machine from the 2010 FIBA World Cup and 2012 London Olympics.
But Durant was concerned with making sure other players were involved. It was one of those situations where being too unselfish is a detriment to the team.
U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski pulled video from that the 2010 World Cup — 33 points against Russia, 28 against Lithuania and 28 against Turkey.
“He told me, ‘I want to see that guy again,’ ” Durant said.
That guy showed up in the knockout round, leading the USA to a third consecutive gold medal with 30 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot in a 96-66 victory against Serbia on Sunday.
In the final three games of the tournament, he averaged 23.4 points and shot 55.6% from the field and 55% on three-pointers.
“Just woke up, I guess,” Durant said. “My teammates were supporting me (and) cheering me on along the way. Everybody was encouraging me. I just went out there and had fun with the game. When I’m smiling and screaming and beating my chest and showing emotion, that’s when I’m lost in the game. I got away from that a couple of games.
“When the knockout round came ... I just tried to go out there and be who I am. Coaches told me to be me. I went out there and did that.”
Durant finished with 155 points, one shy of his USA Basketball record for a single Olympics. He has 311 Olympics points and is No. 2 on USA Basketball’s all-time Olympic scoring list behind Carmelo Anthony (336 points).
In Rio, Durant found a small amount of redemption after a taxing summer. When Durant decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and sign with the Golden State Warriors, criticism followed. Why would one of the best players in the world join a team that won the title in 2015, has three All-Stars and won an NBA-record 73 games in 2015-16?
“He has gone through a lot of examination with the fact that he signed with the Warriors. He’s been under a little bit of pressure and duress,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said. “To see him bust out like he did here was wonderful. It’s going to help his psyche going forward, and I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Three years ago in Las Vegas, Durant stood next to Colangelo, and Colangelo called Durant the face of USA Basketball moving forward.
Durant had just made a commitment to the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain and told USA TODAY Sports, “To play amongst the best in the world and travel throughout this beautiful world and play basketball, you can’t beat that. It’s a great opportunity.”
He added this foreshadowing caveat: “As long as I’m healthy, I’m going to play.”
Durant withdrew from that 2014 event. “I realized I could not fulfill my responsibilities to the team from both a time and energy standpoint,” he said then.
Though USA Basketball understood the decision, his presence at those events is important. If Durant makes that kind of offseason commitment, other players will join him.
He made the commitment to play in Rio, and Durant was going to be an important player regardless of who played. But his presence became more important when some players — such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin — decided not to play in Rio.
“I love the game so much. I started playing it because it was fun to me,” Durant said. “I can’t let anybody steal my job. (U.S. assistant coach) Monty Williams used to tell me that every day. I get joy when I’m out there playing. If I just focused on that, all that other noise kind of quieted down.”
When Durant was finally himself, all that worry about the USA losing a game in Rio disappeared into another gold medal celebration.