Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Americans find their flow
Tatum, Durant push U.S. past Czech Republic
SAITAMA, Japan — The U.S. men’s basketball team lost its first two exhibition games of the summer in Las Vegas, dropped its opening game at these Olympics, and had a difficult time shaking free of the Czech Republic in their group-play finale.
None of that matters now.
The Americans are headed to the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Games — with a shot of being good as gold once again.
Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Kevin Durant added 23 and set a pair of Olympic records, and the U.S. defeated the Czechs 119-84 on Saturday to clinch a berth in the knockout stage.
“I think our guys really focused well and did a good job in gaining ground, day by day, practice by practice,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. “Hopefully we’ll continue that moving forward. We have to if we want to be successful.”
Zach LaVine scored 13 points, Jrue Holiday had 11 and JaVale McGee finished with 10 points for the U.S. The Americans shot 7-for-20 in the first quarter — then made 33 of 44 shots over the next 26 minutes, including a staggering 21-for-25 start to the second half.
“It’s fun to watch,” Holiday said, “and fun to be part of.”
The U.S. (2-1) finished second behind France in Group A, but will join the French, Australia and the winner of Sunday’s game between Slovenia and Spain as a top-four seed for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
Those matchups will be decided in a draw on Sunday night, but the U.S. has now assured itself of not having to face any of the three group winners until at least the semifinals.
Blake Schilb scored 17 for the Czech Republic (1-2), which led by 10 early and was still within 60-54 midway through the third quarter.
In a flash, the hope of a stunner ended there.
“I think the first half, we played amazing. … Second half, we ran out of gas,” Czech coach Ronen Ginzburg said.
Durant — who passed Carmelo Anthony as both the U.S. Olympic men’s all-time points and all-time field goals leader during the game — hit a 3-pointer to end the third quarter, capping a 22-6 run that put the Americans up by 22 going into the final quarter.
The outcome was not in doubt again, and Durant said the scoring record was “special” to him on a night where the Americans engineered a 48-point turnaround from being down 10 to leading by as many as 38.
“You just think about all the players that played in this program,” Durant said. “Pretty cool to be amongst names like that. Carmelo is a guy that I played on two Olympic teams with, I’ve seen his approach to these games and I’ve tried to steal some of his techniques.”
Durant gave the U.S. its first lead on Saturday midway through the second quarter, a 3-pointer putting the Americans up 34-33. The lead eventually got to as much as seven, before the U.S. settled for a 47-43 edge at halftime.
And that left some in the crowd — hundreds of people were in the lower bowl of the arena, even though no tickets were being sold — more than a bit anxious. Among them: Members of the German team; their hopes of qualifying as one of the top third-place teams hinged on the outcome of this game.
By the start of the fourth, the Germans could relax. So could the Americans, who are “extremely” confident heading into the quarterfinals, McGee said. After some time together, some adversity together, the world’s No. 1-ranked team looks like the one to catch yet again.
“Losing definitely helps you grow,” Holiday said.