In case you missed it with all the hullabaloo surrounding the first Sunday of the NFL season, Team USA’s so-called “B-Team” beat host nation Turkey in the finals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, 81-64, earning an automatic bid to the 2012 Olympics in London.
The team’s defense deserves a lot of credit for its gold medal run — Jim Boeheim said that he thought this team played better D than the 2008 Olympic team, which is saying something — but offensively the team would have been lost without Kevin Durant.
What the 21-year-old did on international basketball’s biggest stage is pretty amazing. He averaged 22.8 points — no other U.S. player averaged in double figures — and 6.1 rebounds, while shooting 55.6% from the field, 45.6% from long range and better than 91% from the free throw line. Many NBA players have trouble with the international three-point line, but Durant can shoot from anywhere and he proved that in Turkey. Moreover, he did it as the team’s overwhelming #1 offensive option. No other player even took half as many shots as he did, so he was able to shoot almost 56% even though defenses were trying desperately to stop him.
And he saved some of his best basketball for last, dropping 28 points (on 10-for-17 shooting, including 7-of-13 from 3PT) on Turkey in the title game. It was funny to watch the demonstrative Turkish fans in the stands throw up their hands in frustration as he hit three after three.
His defense still needs some work, but offensively, there’s no better scorer on the planet. It’s going to be interesting to see how Mike Krzyzewski fits him in alongside Kobe, LeBron and Dwyane Wade, assuming they all play in 2012.
