Rio-Cap: USA 96, Serbia 66 (or, Staying Golden)

It wasn’t much of a surprise that Team USA was able to successfully defend its Olympic basketball title for a second consecutive games… and in fact, they made it look incredibly easy, removing any doubts about a quarter into their golden three-peat. After a somewhat inconsistent (at least by their golden standards) tournament, that saw the Americans actually look a little vulnerable in close games with Australia, Serbia (the first time) and France, they took care of business quickly in the gold medal round and subdued the Serbs with little trouble.

So, just when it seemed as if the world might have started to figure out how to beat the US, they instead showed that they may have been just bored, lackadaisical or intentionally sandbagging for the gold…

Whatever it was, Kevin Durant made sure it didn’t continue into the final game. KD was lit almost from the jump. After missing his first two shots, he made 10 of his next 17 (including 5-11 from downtown), as he played like the dominant force most expect him to be in the NBA next season. You could almost hear the collective groan of GMs across the league as the Durantula gave a preview of the devastation he’s capable of when motivated. He added four assists, three boards and two steals to his gaudy 30 points, and by halftime, he had almost outscored Serbia all by himself (24-29).

KD got help from new teammate Klay Thompson, who added 12 points on 5-11 shooting and played some stellar defense, and off the bench from DeMarcus Cousins, who abused the Serbian front line with 13 points and 15 rebounds. DeAndre Jordan also chipped in five boards and another three blocks for the US, while Carmelo Anthony had a relatively quiet final Olympic game with seven points and seven boards, but became the first men’s basketball player to ever win three gold medals. Kyrie Irving also had a fairly subdued game, as he was held to four points and four assists due to being saddled with four fouls. Yet, he did become only the fourth player ever to win a Championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same season, joining Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and LeBron James.

Kyrie Irving joins MJ, Scottie, & LeBron as only people to win NBA title & Olympic gold medal for #USA in same year. pic.twitter.com/32ljjuH0RP

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 21, 2016

The game itself wasn’t really in doubt after a low scoring first quarter that saw the US take a 19-15 lead on a KD triple. The Americans went on to blow the doors off of Serbia with a 33-14 second quarter to take a 23 point lead into halftime. Defense was a factor, as the US held the Serbs to 38% shooting and a paltry 17% (4-24) from beyond the arc. They also demolished Serbia on the glass, 54-33 and actually used quite a bit of ball movement to get the offense rolling early and often. Only two Serbians made it to double digits (and that was mainly thanks to garbage time buckets), as the US held star Milos Teodosic to just nine points and Nikola Jokic (who broke out against the US in their first matchup) to just six.

In the end, there was plenty of time to reflect on the storied Olympic careers of both Melo, who officially retired from International play following the game, effectively passing the torch to the next generation of American stars, and of Coach Mike Krzyzewski who finished his run at the head of USA basketball on a 76 game winning streak. It will remain to be seen what players will step in to take the challenge in 2020 in Tokyo when Gregg Popovich takes the reins. It’s undeniable though the impact and legacy Coach K has left on the International game… and the impact it’s had on him…

“It’s been the ultimate honor of my life in coaching,” Coach K said this week, “and I’ve coached for 41 years.”

That wraps things up for the 2016 Olympics, and as Nate mentioned on the Live Thread, puts a perfect cap on this almost endless Cavalier Summer. You’ll have to just hang in there for the next six weeks until training camp starts up again… but in the meantime, we’ll do our best to keep you entertained until the Cavs get set to defend their title.