LeBron James felt nervous, excited and even angry as he heard the national anthem played before his first Olympic appearance in 12 years.
Everything disappeared quickly.
James and Kevin Durant (the two most experienced Olympians on this U.S. team) started the U.S. quest for a fifth straight gold medal in Paris with a near-perfect performance. Durant made his first eight shots and scored 23 points, James added 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, and the U.S. won 110-84 over Serbia in the two-team Olympic opener on Sunday.
“It was the best game we’ve ever played,” James said after the U.S. went 6-0 this summer. The important thing is that they’re 1-0 in the tournament.
James and Durant combined for 18 of 22 from the field, Durant 8 of 9 and James 9 of 13. The U.S. had no trouble with the silver medalist from last summer’s World Cup in the Philippines. Jrue Holiday added 15, Devin Booker 12, and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each had 11.
“Whatever it is,” James said. “It’s going to be a different person every day. And we have that kind of firepower.”
The U.S. improved to 144-6 overall at the Olympics, and was 56-0 when scoring 100 points or more. The U.S. won without NBA champion Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, who had just agreed to the biggest contract in NBA history, and even U.S. coach Steve Kerr thought he was crazy when he decided to do so.
“I took what I thought was reasonable,” Kerr said. “I talked to him and he was incredibly professional. And that’s what happened tonight. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same for the rest of the tournament. He’s going to leave his mark. Our guys know that. The point of this whole thing is to leave everything in the NBA behind and just win six games. Jason is the ultimate professional and champion, and he’s handled it well and he’s going to be ready for the next game.”
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 20 points for Serbia, while Bogdan Bogdanovic added 14. Serbia was outshot 54-27 from the 3-point line, a big burden for the U.S. in warm-up games before the tournament, but it turned into an advantage on Sunday. The U.S. shot 62 percent from the field while being limited to 42 percent from the field.
When Jokic played 31 minutes, the two teams were tied. In the nine minutes Jokic didn’t play, the U.S. outscored Serbia by 26 points. Final score: 26 points.
“They’ve recruited the best players in the world,” Edwards said.
Both teams return to action on Wednesday. The U.S. faces upstart South Sudan, a rematch of a friendly the U.S. narrowly won 101-100 in London earlier this month. Serbia then faces Puerto Rico, which could effectively be an elimination game for both teams.
It was Serbia 10, USA 2 early. USA 108, Serbia 74 the rest of the way.
“We knew they were going to come out and play hard,” Booker said. “They did the same thing when we were in Abu Dhabi. They have a lot of talented players. We didn’t underestimate them.”
Before the tournament began, Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic, who coached the U.S. on its 1992 Olympic “Dream Team,” said this version of the U.S. squad was better than the first batch of NBA stars that took the world by storm at the Barcelona Olympics. And when told a few weeks ago, Kerr laughed it off.
“When Chuck Daley coached the Dream Team, he never called a timeout,” Kerr said.
It took only 2 minutes and 41 seconds for Kerr to call the one-pointer. The U.S. was in trouble quickly, as Serbia jumped out to an eight-point lead. Kerr replaced Joel Embiid for Anthony Davis after the first intermission, and things quickly changed. The U.S. took its first lead midway through the first when James hit a three-point play, and James’ lob to Edwards put the U.S. up 25-20 after the one-pointer.
By that time, the Durant Show was on.
He ended the first half with an 8-of-8 fadeaway, going down the court to make it 58-49 at the halftime buzzer. And the lead has steadily grown since then. Edwards outdueled Serbia’s Nikola Jovic for a stunning baseline score and then a 3-pointer to make it 84-65. Curry was so happy he was dancing and using a video game controller on the sideline to imitate him.
“It’s very, very important to get off to a good start in this tournament because every game is so important,” Curry said after his Olympic debut. “You only need six guys to win gold, and Serbia is a great team. They play a complex offense and a very physical defense. KD was unbelievable in the first half, gave us a lot of energy, and our defense in the second half opened up the game.”
Associated Press reports.
National Basketball Association
Summer Olympics
Lebron James
Get more information from the National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to get information about games, news, and more.
