USA NBA stars to face Serbia for gold
AFP
AFP, RIO DE JANEIRO: The United States collection of NBA stars, unbeaten for a decade, will face Serbia in Sundays Rio Olympics gold medal game after both teams won semi-finals Friday.
The Americans downed Spain 82-76 for their 24th consecutive Olympic victory in a rematch of the past two Olympic finals while Serbia routed Australia 87-61 to claim its first Olympic mens hoops medal. The US NBA squad stretched its 10-year overall win streak to 75 games since a 2006 World Championships semi-final loss to Greece, earning a chance at a third gold in a row and sixth in seven tries with NBA talent.
It means a lot to be in the final game, to win the gold, US guard Kevin Durant said. We like our chances, so weve got to come out and play with a lot of intensity, a lot of passion and energy and well be fine. American NBA stars are 2-0 against Serbia, beating them 129-92 in the 2014 Basketball World Cup final to earn a berth in Rio but by only 94-91 in a group match last week, the smallest margin of the US Olympic win streak.
It gives us hope, Serbian centre Miroslav Raduljica said of the lopsided victory. We showed in our last game that they are not unbeatable. I think we know how to play against them and were going to do that. Were going to show something.
Klay Thompson scored 22 points and Durant added 14 for the US team while Kyrie Irving contributed 13 and DeAndre Jordan scored nine points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked four shots as well as disrupting numerous others.
A Spanish side boasting seven NBA standouts and three former NBA players kept the US elite to their lowest-scoring Olympic game since 2004 and their thinnest margin in a knockout game over their unbeaten decade.
