Kevin Durant and Jrue Holiday are often on opposing sides during NBA games, but against team Australia, they joined forces to lead a come-from-behind victory. The 97-78 win puts Team USA in the gold medal game, where the team has the opportunity to win its fourth straight Olympic final.
“They came out and hit us with a nice haymaker, and we were able to get back up and get that lead back,” Durant said of the team’s efforts.
Australia did, in fact, come out swinging. The Australian squad – led by wily NBA player Patty Mills – secured a 15-point first lead half.
Durant then popped off, collecting 23 points in the victory. He helped spur an 8-0 run that cut the Australian lead to just three points going into the final two quarters of play. Holiday also made a sizable contribution, putting up 11 points.
“When you are a great team and you’re playing a team who feels that it’s going to be tough to beat us, they’re going to come out and play their best brand of basketball. They’re going to play perfect basketball, and I felt like that’s what they did in that first half, and once we went down three going into halftime, I felt like we had the game in hand,” Durant noted.
The confidence in Durant and Holiday helped inspire others on the team; Devin Booker 20 points in the game. “He’s been a great leader for us, and we feed off his energy,” Booker said of Durant.
To win gold, the U.S. will need to defeat France, which handed the American squad an 83-76 loss in the opening game of the Tokyo Olympics.
