On Sunday, Kevin Durant reminded the world what he was capable of. The forward put on an elite display of basketball, scoring 23 points and leading Team USA to a 110-84 win over Serbia. To perform at such a high level despite having just returned from injury is no easy task, but Durant himself has an explanation for that:
“I've been playing ball my whole life, so I simplified it,” Durant said, per ESPN's Brian Windhorst. “And when the ball touched my hand, it was be aggressive.”
And aggressive he was indeed. The 35-year-old only played 17 minutes, but he was 8-of-9 from the floor, making all five of his three-point attempts to finish the night with the highest scoring output for Team USA. 21 of Durant's 23 points occurred in the first half, giving French spectators a glimpse of why he's called the “Slim Reaper”.
Interestingly, Durant was only cleared to play less than an hour before Sunday's clash; he missed all of Team USA's recent exhibition games due to a calf injury. But is anyone really surprised that the 6-foot-11 forward was able to do this? One could say that he just continued where he left off. Looking at Durant's most recent NBA campaign, his numbers are still up there. The former MVP averaged 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists this past season, shooting 52.3% from the floor and 41.3% from downtown.
While KD has had his fair share of injuries throughout his career, none of them have hampered his ability to put the ball in the ring — Sunday's game was just another example of this.
Team USA opens their Paris campaign with a statement win
Alongside Kevin Durant, LeBron James was also big for the team, tallying 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. Furthermore, several other Team USA stars finished in double figures. Jrue Holiday (15 points), Devin Booker (12 points) and Stephen Curry (11 points) all contributed significantly as starters while Anthony Edwards had 11 points off the bench.
Despite Durant's sizzling first half, Team USA led by just single digits at halftime. The Americans then outscored their foes 26-16 in the third quarter, entering the final period with a 19-point cushion. They would cruise the rest of the way and take home their first victory in Paris.
For Serbia, Nikola Jokic put up 20 points and eight assists while Bogdan Bogdanovic added 14 points.
Up next, Team USA will face the ever-gritty South Sudan on Wednesday. It'll surely bring in a lot of viewers, considering how the squad from Northeast Africa lost by just one point in their exhibition game against the Americans earlier this month.
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