Olympics: Men’s basketball squad beats Czech Republic as NBA's Durant makes history
Saitama, Japan - The US men’s basketball team appear to have finally gotten things together at the Tokyo Summer Games as they took care of the Czech Republic in their third game of the preliminary round on Saturday.
Kevin Durant of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets (32) made a bit of history as Team USA won their second-straight game, routing the Czech Republic 119-84 in their third and final game before heading into the elimination rounds.
Durant played 28 minutes, scoring 23 points and eight rebounds, which in an NBA game could be an "off night" for him.
However, with that point total, he is now the top men’s scorer in USA Olympic basketball history with a total of 337 points, passing the mark of 336 previously set by Carmelo Anthony.
As the men’s squad can now look forward to at least another game ahead in the quarterfinals, Durant can himself look forward to adding to his piece of Olympic history.
Yet, it wasn’t easy for Durant and the rest of the Americans on Saturday, as they got through the first quarter actually trailing by seven points. They flipped the script in the second to take a four-point lead at the half, only to pull away with 72 points in the second half to easily cruise by the Czech for the monster win.
Jayson Tatum of the Celtics led all scorers with 27 points, while Zach LaVine of the Bulls scored 13.
Since losing to France in the Olympic opener, the Americans have been able to band together and put up a lot of points in their two wins to potentially draw high enough for a favorable path towards Olympic gold.
Up next are the quarterfinals, but it’s not known who they’ll match up against until a draw is determined on Sunday.
Cover photo: IMAGO / Xinhua