DURANT IS CAPTAIN AMERICA, REMEMBER, AS LEBRON BEGINS TO LEAD A NATION
Concerns about Team USA are calmed by Durant, who returned from an calf injury and hit his first eight shots Sunday, while James thrusts a victory over Serbia by growling and throwing down an opponent
The width of his teeth weren’t ruined by the rainstorm. We saw the entire mouth growling, often, when LeBron James was finished throwing down Filip Petrusev in the lane and then drove through Serbs for a 14-point lead. When Joel Embiid earned more wicked boos by nailing Aleksa Avramovic in the face — France granted him naturalized citizenship in 2022, but he decided to play for America — Dwyane Wade added to the jingoism on the broadcast.
“This ain’t soccer, bro,” he said.
But the biggest comment James made, as he directed the U.S. through the River Seine and joins Simone Biles in leading a nation, is what he said about Kevin Durant’s return from a left calf strain. “Instant impact,” he said.
Instant was a vast understatement. As James hollered and ranted under the retractable roof of the Lille soccer stadium, Durant reminded us that he is Captain America. He has won the Olympic basketball competition three times, and if he wins a fourth, he becomes the all-time leader. We forgot he was in civvies when Team USA almost lost to South Sudan and stumbled against Germany in preseason play. He not only is back, off the bench, and he made every shot in the first half Sunday.
Eight tries.
All went in, including five from the three-point line.
He scored 23 points as the career leader after London, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. We’ll continue to rave about James, who seems ready to lift his country when he can’t rally the Los Angeles Lakers, but never, ever neglect deep thoughts about Durant. He was immediately barreled by Vasilije Micic, which prompted coach Steve Kerr to rush onto the court and rail on the officials, and after faking a little shove himself, Durant made his first trey in a 110-84 victory.
Oh, if we only could blot out Durant’s career after he left the Golden State Warriors, a victim of Draymond Green’s troubled tongue after winning two NBA titles, forcing him to Brooklyn and Phoenix and blah. As a sportsman, he is magnifique. Keep re-rolling the tape of Durant making his final shot, then falling on his back into the U.S. bench.
“Man, it felt great. I’ve been itching to get on the floor,” Durant said. “That’s all we’ve been talking about as a team, staying connected. These teams have played together since they were young. We are playing well with one another. That’s the pinnacle of basketball.”
Said Jrue Holiday: “That’s Kevin Durant. What are we even talking about?”
What broiled James, in his bruising retaliation of Petrusev, isn’t something we see often in the NBA. Is he that excited about winning for America when he can’t pass four championships in the league? He was more enthused about Durant, who really should be involved in all Summer Games hype with James and Steph Curry. “This brings out the best in one another,” James said. “To have KD on my side, that’s the truth for sure. … That’s the best game we’ve played so far. It’s going to be somebody different every day. And we have that type of firepower.”
“Very, very important to get off to a good start in this tournament because every game is so big,” Curry said. “You only have six of them if you want to get to the gold and obviously, Serbia is a great team. They run an intricate offense and a very physical defense. KD was unbelievable in the first half and gave us a huge boost, and our defense in the second half opened the game up.”
Before the Group C opener, Kerr wasn’t happy with a team that might wait before inviting comparisons to the 1992 Dream Team. Wednesday, the Americans play South Sudan, which beat Puerto Rico. They made 17 turnovers, as James said (he had six himself), and cruised by making 17 of 30 on 3-pointers. He nearly triple-doubled with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. Kerr will stay on them, making remarks such as, “We have another level.” Has Team USA reached it in one game? No.
“It’s the reminder: It’s time, you know?” Kerr said. “We are not traveling around anymore. We’re here. We’ve got six games. We’ve got to get into the pool play, advance, and then it’s (like the) NCAA Tournament. So we need 40 minutes of force, attention, and focus, and we can’t let teams outplay us with effort and energy.”
Said Bam Adebayo: “Like, I don’t disrespect any other country at all. So don’t let that be (the) headline. But when you put a team like this (together), and you get compared to the Dream Team, it kind of puts it in perspective of how great this team can be if we play the right way and do the things we’re supposed to do. The rest of the world is trying to catch up. You put a team like this together, and we play the right way, it’s gonna be hard to beat us.”
The Serbia coach, Svetislav Pesic, came forward as said this team is better than the Dream Team. Curry then made a point at a press conference, saying, “The Dream Team played against nine NBA players.”
And Durant said: “We’re playing against 65 or 64 NBA players now. They’re all the best of the best in the world now.”
Kerr smiled. “When Chuck Daly coached the Dream Team, he never called timeout,” he said.
Nikola Jokic was quiet for Serbia, with 20 points and four turnovers while making 1 of 6 from three-pointville. He didn’t have enough help. Chances are, I will be seeing Team USA in the Olympic semifinals at Bercy Arena, where Biles is starring this week.
For now, we see teeth.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.