Durant lights it up, Booker connects in Team USA’s opening Olympic win

For the uninitiated, welcome to the Team USA Kevin Durant experience.

Durant scored 23 points in 17 minutes of a 110-84 win over Serbia to kick off pool play at the Paris Olympics.

Sunday was an intriguing opener for a few reasons.

For one, the Americans kicked the crap out of the Serbians in Abu Dhabi just 11 days prior by 26 points, the best Team USA looked during its five-game showcase tour. Secondly, head coach Steve Kerr shared his displeasure with the team and let that be known between the last exhibition against Germany and the opener in Lille. Kerr was vocal about his group’s lack of energy and pace at times in those games, adding intrigue to Sunday to see if he elicited a response.

He did not, from the jump at least. Joel Embiid and Stephen Curry both turned the ball over on inbounds passes less than four minutes in, leading to immediate open layups in transition for Serbia.

Devin Booker knocked down back-to-back 3s to silence a 10-2 Serbian start and settle the Americans. A few minutes later, he checked out for Kevin Durant, and Durant took over that role and the game in general from there. Across his 8:39 in the first half, Durant went 8-for-8 from the field, including five 3s. The shorter FIBA line is less like a cheat code for Durant and more like he has hacked the mainframe. Durant entered the day shooting 48.8% from 3-point range in FIBA tournaments.

ZERO missed shots for Kevin Durant in the first half.

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Despite a 12-for-18 mark from 3 for the Americans at halftime, they only led by nine (58-49). Curry was constantly targeted defensively and had a rough half on that end while Embiid’s two-way performance was even worse. There just isn’t enough margin of error against a team as good as Serbia to be afforded that and the other general turnovers Team USA committed to still blow teams out.

That is the key for Team USA through this tournament. Because in the second half, it was just solid, avoiding big mistakes and capitalizing when opportunities were presented. There was no Herculean effort from an opposing individual or crazy shot-making, two variables that will pop up for the United States at some point. So without major slip-ups for Team USA in the last two quarters, it was a 52-35 rout.

Booker, like his Phoenix Suns teammate Durant, was also his usual Team USA self, connecting and filling in gaps where he could. As a starter, he finished with 12 points, two rebounds, five assists and two steals in 26 minutes, the second most on the team.

He played good defense, made the right passes, knocked down shots and inserted energy wherever he could. Notably, Booker found Embiid a few times in the mid-range area during scattered possessions, trying to get the big man some rhythm.

The biggest surprise of the rotation pecking order came with Derrick White getting a nod off the bench in favor of Jayson Tatum. Matchup-wise, it made a lot of sense. Serbia’s playmaking guards were a problem out of the gates and Charlotte Hornets guard Vasilije Micic is Serbia’s engine as a reserve, captaining the minutes when Jokic rests. Tatum, however, just starred for the title-winning Boston Celtics.

With that said, Tatum struggled to adapt to a lesser rule in Tokyo, even though he was able to put up numbers in some of those games. While his slashing was a benefit during the exhibition tour, he and Anthony Edwards together off the bench yielded a bit too much iso ball that led to too many midrange pull-ups.

Durant began the tournament coming off the bench after missing Team USA’s entire exhibition tour due to a calf strain. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported from France there has been a consistent dialogue between Durant, the Phoenix Suns’ staff and Team USA throughout the lead-up to Sunday for the injury sustained at the start of July. Extreme caution has been exercised, with Durant looking the part of someone ready for legitimate minutes in pre-game warmups back in London a week before the Olympics got underway.

Expect to see him back in the starting lineup on either Wednesday against South Sudan or Puerto Rico on Saturday.

LeBron James added 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists on 9-of-13 shooting. He’s 39 years old. Crazy.

Pretty much everyone for Team USA looked good after those early struggles. Jrue Holiday continued his awesome glue-guy minutes from Tokyo alongside Booker with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. There is no wrong choice for Kerr between Holiday or Booker as the fifth starter.

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