The 2016 Summer Olympic Games took place in the beautiful city of Rio de Janerio in Brazil, where the USA men’s basketball team secured a gold medal victory. Some of the best players in the NBA were selected to represent the United States, including: Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, DeAndre Jordan, DeMar DeRozan, Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving and many more.
The USA team has always been a powerhouse when it comes to basketball, and this year was no different. Their first game against China resulted in a 57 point difference as they came out on top 119-62. After a day of recovery, they then proceeded to beat Venezuela 113-69.
The first two games seemed almost too easy for team USA. DeRozan, shooting guard for the Toronto Raptors, was all over social media after he attempted a 360 poster dunk on the Chinese team. He could not get the ball to go in but there were numerous tweets and Facebook posts saying that dunk could have started WWIII.
The next couple games for Team USA were not as one-sided, as they beat Australia 98-88, followed by a 94-91 victory against Serbia, who they would later play in the gold medal final matchup.
In their 111-74 victory against Argentina, Paul George scored 18 points, shooting 7-11 from the field and hit two from downtown to add to their already impressive lead. Anthony scored 17 points and DeMarcus Cousins had 14. Durant dropped 23 points, had two blocks and stole the ball once on defense.
Afterwards, they beat France 86-67 and then prevailed against Spain 82-76. They had a day of recovery before they would face Serbia one last time for the gold and silver medal.
Their final game was nowhere near as close as the first time these two teams squared off. By halftime, Durant had 24 points by himself, compared to Serbia’s total 29. By the end of the game, the USA team had 30 points over Serbia, with a final score of 96-66 and the United States team would fly back home with the gold medal.
Anthony, small forward for the New York Nicks, received his third gold medal in his four years of playing in the Olympics. Anthony is the only NBA player to receive three gold medals, with LeBron James being the second highest with just two.
The 2020 Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo. This gives the best NBA players four years to keep getting better and will allow a select few to recover and get back on the court. Players such as Stephan Curry, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis and Blake Griffin were offered the opportunity to play this year but had to refuse as they all were overcoming recent injuries.