As he listened to the national anthem before his first Olympic game in 12 years, LeBron James was filled with apprehension, butterflies, and possibly angst.
It all faded away swiftly.
James and Kevin Durant, the two most experienced Olympians on this American team, kicked off the Paris Games and the United States’ attempt for a fifth consecutive gold medal with a near-perfect performance. Durant made his first eight shots and scored 23 points, James added 21 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, and the United States cruised to a 110-84 victory over Serbia in the Olympic openers on Sunday.
“That’s the best game we’ve played so far,” James said after the Americans advanced to 6-0 this summer, including 1-0 in the event that counts.
James and Durant went a combined 18 for 22 from the field — 8 for 9 for Durant, 9 for 13 for James — as the United States easily defeated the reigning World Cup silver medallists from last summer in the Philippines. Jrue Holiday had 15 points, Devin Booker had 12, and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each had 11.
The United States moved to 144-6 overall in Olympic competition, with a perfect 56-0 record when scoring more than 100 points. The Americans triumphed despite the fact that Jayson Tatum of the NBA champion Boston Celtics — who had agreed to the highest contract in NBA history — was not in the rotation, which even U.S. coach Steve Kerr believed was ridiculous at the time.
“I went with the combinations that I felt like would make sense,” Kerr informed me. “I chatted to him, and he’s quite professional. And that’s all for tonight. It doesn’t imply it will stay that way for the rest of the competition. He’ll make his mark. Our players understand that the key to this whole affair is to forget about the NBA and just win six games. Jayson is the ultimate pro, a champion; he handled it well and will be prepared for the next one.”
The Olympic games in Paris
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Nikola Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP, led Serbia with 20 points, while Bogdan Bogdanovic added 14. Serbia was outscored 54-27 from the three-point line, which was a major weakness for the Americans in the pre-tournament games but a strength on Sunday, which allowed the Americans to shoot 62% while being kept to 42% from the floor.
The teams were level after Jokic played 31 minutes. When Jokic was not on the court, the US outscored Serbia by 26 points. The ultimate difference: 26 points.
“They got the best player in the world,” Edwards declared.
Both teams return to action on Wednesday, with the United States facing upstart South Sudan in a rematch of the Americans’ 101-100 victory in an exhibition in London earlier this month, and Serbia facing Puerto Rico in what might essentially be an elimination game for both sides.
Early on, Serbia led 10–2 against the United States. The final score was United States 108, Serbia 74.
“We knew they were going to come out and play hard,” Booker told the audience. “They did the same thing when we visited Abu Dhabi. There are a lot of talented men over there. We did not underestimate them.
Before the competition began, Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic, who coached against the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” from the United States, stated this version of the American squad was even better than the first NBA-star-studded group that caught the world by storm in Barcelona. Kerr brushed off the comment when she heard it a few weeks ago.
“When Chuck Daly coached the Dream Team, he never called timeout,” says Kerr.
Kerr called one in just 2 minutes and 41 seconds at these Olympics. Serbia took an eight-point lead, putting the Americans in a fast hole. Kerr replaced Joel Embiid with Anthony Davis after the first stoppage, and things changed quickly; a three-point play by James midway through the first gave the Americans their first lead, and a lob from James to Edwards put the Americans up 25-20 after one.