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A game-high 22 points from


Durant, who added nine rebounds and shot 7-of-7 from the free throw line, led the USA, while Love added 14 points. Bryant rounded out the USA’s double-digit scorers with 10 points.


Eight assists from James and


six from Williams helped the USA record 27 assists on 31


made baskets. With First Lady Michelle Obama in the stands, all 12 U.S. players scored and three finished with nine points, including James, Westbrook and Anthony. “We’re pleased,” said


LeBron James did whatever his USA team required and earned a third Olympic medal averaging 13.3 ppg., 5.6 rpg. and 5.6 apg.


James’ 5.6 assists a game ranked


second for the Olympics and led the red, white and blue, while Paul added 5.1 apg. and Williams handed out 4.6 apg. Paul had an Olympic and USA high 2.5 steals a game. As a team, the USA established or


tied six U.S. Olympic single-game records and rewrote five U.S. team Olympic competition marks. With the perfect U.S. showing in


London secure in the record books, the USA has won gold in 14 of the 17 Olympics in which it has played, while compiling an remarkable 130-5 overall record (.963 winning percentage). Additionally, by winning gold in the


2008 Olympics, 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2012 Olympics, the United States becomes the first nation to sweep those three titles since it last did it in 1992, 1994 and 1996.


USA 98, France 71 Leading by just one point after the


first quarter, the U.S. rode red-hot sec- ond quarter shooting to earn a convinc- ing 98-71 win over France to open its play in the 2012 London Olympics.


USA Basketball News


Krzyzewski. “We played a very good game against an outstanding team. France is so well-coached and in (Tony) Parker, they have as good of a guard as there is in the tournament. I thought we did a good job defensively. We shared the ball. We assisted on 27 of our 31 buckets and we rebounded the ball very well. Overall, it was a good first step for us, beating an outstanding French team.”


The U.S. defense forced France into


18 turnovers, which led to 20 points, and the Europeans shot just 9.0 percent from 3-point (2-22 3pt FGs). Further, the USA outrebounded its opponent 56-40. “We still have a lot of work to do,


but that’s the beauty of it all,” Durant said. “We’re all coming together in such a short time. We’re having fun playing. Guys don’t worry about points, rebounds, assists; we just want to play to win.”


Chandler, who posted eight points


and grabbed nine rebounds, put the first points of the game on the board, but the USA never was able to find breathing room in the first 10 minutes. Four times the lead reached six


points in the first period, including after a jump shot from Westbrook at 3:04 put the USA up 20-14. From there, however, the USA was held to just two free throws as France pulled within one point, 22-21, by the end of the quarter. After missing all six 3-point


attempts in the first quarter, a 3-pointer from James 28 seconds into the second period ignited the Americans on an 11-0 scoring run that included another three


from Bryant at 8:47 and a long ball from Paul at 7:41 that gave the USA a 33-21 lead.


Another 3-pointer, this time from


Durant, put the USA up by 10 points, and the lead reached 15 points, 43-28, with a 3-pointer from Love at 3:43. Two free throws from Durant ended the half, and the USA headed to the locker room with a 52-36 advantage. Six of the USA’s eight made


3-pointers came in the second period, and the remaining two, from Durant and Bryant, opened the second half. France never recovered. The USA’s largest run of the game,


a 12-0 stretch, began with a free throw from Love at 2:14 in the third and lasted into the fourth quarter, when Durant was fouled driving to the basket and made both free throws to put the USA ahead 80-51.


The USA took its largest lead of the game, 98-69 when Westbrook made two


USA 98, France 71 July 29, 2012


FRA Diaw Turiaf


MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 26 4- 8 1- 2 614 9 21 2- 4 3- 8 921 7


Gelabale 19 2- 5 0- 0 423 4 Batum Parker Bokolo Pietrus


18 2- 6 3- 4 202 7 26 4-11 2- 3 113 10 11 1- 2 1- 2 002 4 21 2- 4 4- 4 301 8


de Colo 23 3- 9 0- 0 233 7 Seraphin 7 1- 5 1- 2 104 3 Causeur


Diawara 10 0- 2 0- 0 001 0 Traore


5 0- 2 0- 0 001 0 13 5- 8 2- 2 511 12


Totals 200 26-66 17-27 40 10 26 71 USA


Bryant Paul


Chandler 11 3- 5 2- 5 933 8 Durant James Love


28 6-13 7- 7 921 22 25 4- 6 0- 0 582 9 14 5- 8 3- 4 303 14


Harden 14 2- 5 1- 2 012 5 Davis


8 1- 2 1- 2 301 3


Anthony 17 3-10 3- 4 903 9 Westbrook 19 2- 6 5- 6 434 9 Williams 21 1- 6 1- 2 462 3 Iguodala 11 0- 1 1- 2 120 1 Totals 200 31-72 28-38 56 27 26 98


France USA


21 15 15 20 22 30 26 20


-- 71 -- 98


3PT FGs-France (2-22): de Colo 1-5, Batum 1-4, Bokolo 1-2, Diaw 0-2, Gelabale 0-2, Parker 0-2, Pietrus 0-2, Causeur 0-2, Diawara 0-1; USA (8-25): Durant 3-5, Bryant 2-5, Paul 1-2, James 1-2, Love 1-2, Harden 0-3, Williams 0-3, Anthony 0-2, Iguodala 0-1; TO-France 18, USA 14; BLKS- France 3, USA 5; STLS-France 4, USA 10.


23


MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 12 2- 6 4- 4 103 10 20 2- 4 0- 0 122 5


Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Gewtty Images


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