An NBA star as hit out at the United States’ basketball coach after Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James combined to rescue their Olympic dreams from the brink of elimination against Nikola Jokic‘s Serbia.
A blistering 32-15 fourth quarter with the Los Angeles Lakers’ James locking down Jokic saw the USA claw their way through to the gold medal game, where they will play Victor Wembanyama‘s France.
Kevin Durant roasts Draymond Green
With Serbia’s only standout player being the Denver Nuggets’ Jokic, they should not have posed too much of a threat to a US team that defeated them 110-84 as recently as July 28 but they found themselves staring down the barrel, something Draymond Green blamed Steve Kerr for.
“Not playing [Jayson Tatum] was wrong,” Green said on his Draymond Green Show “We all know it was wrong.
“He should’ve played. He didn’t… From the outside looking in, [Kerr‘s response] comes off as, ‘We made a mistake as a coaching staff.'”
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The USA had slipped to 17 points behind Jokic’s inspired Serbia on Thursday, August 8 with their Olympic dreams looking to be in tatters as Tatum watched on from the bench but in the end they prevailed.
The Golden State Warriors’ Curry posted a monstrous 36 points as James also posted what was just the second triple-double in US Men’s Basketball history. Who holds the other one? LeBron James.
It was the old guard that pulled the USA through to the championship game, which will take place at the Accor Arena in Paris, France on Saturday, August 10 at 14:30 ET/11:30 PT where they will take home either gold or silver.
In their way will stand the San Antonio Spurs’ Wembanyama after France defeated the FIBA World Cup winners, Germany, 73-69 to book their place in the final in front of their home crowd.
