Kevin Durant produced a team-high 29 points on Tuesday to lead USA Basketball to a 95-81 victory over Spain and advance to the semifinals in the Tokyo Olympics.
The United States jumped out to an early 10-point lead but Spain, thanks in large part to Ricky Rubio, stormed back.
Rubio scored 13 of Spain’s first 17 points to close the gap and take the lead. The Americans shot just 4-of-17 from 3-point range in the first half, enabling Spain to lead by 10 points with 3:25 left in the second quarter.
“We got wide-open looks in the first half, we just didn’t knock them down,” Durant said.
However, a 14-4 run by the U.S. tied the game up at 43 points apiece at halftime.
The U.S. stormed out on a 22-6 run to begin the third quarter and open up a 16-point advantage. Durant scored 13 points alone in the period to give the U.S. the lead for good. His 29 total points were the ninth-most ever by an American in the Olympics.
Jayson Tatum added 13 points, Jrue Holiday had 12 and Damian Lillard finished with 11 points in the win.
“I like how we played in the second quarter,” Durant said. “From the end of the second quarter all the way to finish the game, and that’s how we are going to need to play going forward.”
Just went off for a top-10 scoring performance in U.S. Men's Olympic history @KDTrey5!
KD's 29 PTS vs 🇪🇸 is good for 9th all-time on the single game leaderboard. KD also holds down a tie for 4th (30 PTS, twice) & 10th (28 PTS).
🇺🇸 #USABMNT x #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/jA1q5gSFx2
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 3, 2021
Rubio finished with 38 points, the most ever by a Team USA opponent, to lead Spain, who fell to 0-13 against the Americans in the Olympics. Sergio Rodriguez had 16 points while Willy Hernangomez had 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Houston Rockets draftee Usman Garuba finished with three points and three rebounds.
[mm-video type=video id=01fc5zqgjt2xqsrpf10t playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f1jxkahtwnvzepyp image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fc5zqgjt2xqsrpf10t/01fc5zqgjt2xqsrpf10t-d28c6888019559a3ec3c3579d6b4b4aa.jpg]
Team USA will now face Australia in the semifinals on Thursday (12:05 a.m. EDT) from Tokyo.
The Americans are 8-0 all-time against Australia in the Olympics but recently lost to the Boomers during their exhibition run last month in Las Vegas.
The loss to Australia was just the second game Team USA played together but they have since had the opportunity to gel and practice more on the court.
The group believes they are performing well at the right time, and hope to continue that in the semifinals.
“This game happened, and it’s not the way we wanted it to go, but we still have an opportunity,” Tatum said. “We still have a chance, and we’ve got to focus on the next game and keep building and keep growing together.”
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[lawrence-related id=34568,36117,36007]
[listicle id=34827]