Team USA kicked off its official bid to win a gold medal in these 2012 London Olympics by defeating France, 98-71. It was a choppy affair, as the USA team again struggled to find the right rhythm early on. However, as is going to be the familiar theme, the Americans are simply too talented, even playing C+ basketball, to lose to a lesser team like France. Their defense is too good and their best players, LeBron James and Kevin Durant, care too much to give into malaise or lack of focus to lose to a team like France.
Durant led all scorers with 22 points, hitting 3-5 from 3-point land and took a team-high 13 shots while grabbing a team-high 9 rebounds. I like the fact that Team USA clearly sees Durant as their go-to scorer, and for good reason. There isn't anybody else in the world that can keep him from getting the shots he wants (I suspect that Tony Allen's secret attempt to gain nationalization with Team Tunisia will hit a few snags). As long as Durant has guys like LeBron and Chris Paul setting him up in good spots, the Americans have a formula that will be tough to crack. And if they DO happen to bottle up KD for a spell, well, here comes the LeBron freight train again...
Also, KD is now bald, and that's just weird.
After the jump, LeBron's sick bounce pass to Durant for he slam, James Harden getting into the action, and CP3 celebrating the big win by encouraging rookie Anthony Davis.
LeBron throws an amazing 3/4 bounce pass to Durant. This is Magic Johnson-level stuff, here.
Harden throws it down.
Loading comments...