LeBron James returned to the Olympics after a 12-year absence. Kevin Durant played for the first time this summer. And the two most experienced Olympians on this U.S. team opened the Paris Games with a near-perfect performance, as the U.S. beat Serbia 110-84 on Sunday.
Durant came off the bench to hit his first eight shots en route to 23 points in less than 17 minutes, with James adding 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. They were 18 of 22 from the field — 8 of 9 for Durant, 9 of 13 for James — as the U.S. had no trouble with the reigning World Cup silver medalists. Jrue Holiday scored 15, Devin Booker had 12 and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each added 11 for the USA.
“This is the best game we’ve played so far,” James said after the Americans improved to 6-0 this summer, 1-0 in the tournament that matters.
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Durant missed most of Team USA’s pre-Olympic preparation as he nursed a calf injury, with Sunday marking the first time he has stepped onto the court this summer. And he was the fifth substitute off the U.S. bench, essentially the tenth player, in what was only the fourth time in his last 1,320 games that he was not a starter.
But once on the court, Durant was in typical form, firing shots from all angles.
Durant was the star on the court, but Joel Embiid felt the heat from the French fans, regardless of whether he stepped on the court or not.
The Sixers center chose to play for the USA instead of France at the Paris Games – and the home fans didn’t let him forget it. Embiid was met with boos throughout the opening game, whether during pregame introductions, coming off the bench or touching the ball.
There was some hope among French fans that Embiid would join fellow NBA stars Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert to play for the host country. The Sixers center received naturalized citizenship status in 2022, even though he has never lived in France. He also had the option to play for Cameroon, but turned down the opportunity early in the qualification process. He was left with the US, where he also received a US passport in 2022.
Embiid had previously said he wanted to play for the U.S. national team because his son was born there, but none of that mattered to the crowd of French fans at the arena on Sunday.
Serbia was led by three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić, who scored 20 points for Serbia, while Bogdan Bogdanović scored 14.
Before the tournament began, Serbia coach Svetislav Pešić – who coached against the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team – said this version of the U.S. team is even better than that first star-studded NBA lineup that took the world by storm. in Barcelona. Games.
“It’s really, really important to start this tournament off right because every game is so important,” Curry said after his Olympic debut. “You only have six of them if you want to get gold and obviously Serbia is a great team. They run a complex attack and a very physical defense. KD was unbelievable in the first half and gave us a huge boost, and our defense in the second half opened up the game.”
