USA’s LeBron James dunks the ball in the men’s preliminary round group C basketball match between Serbia and USA during the Paris Olympics 2024 at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, northern France, on July 28, 2024. (Photo by Denis CHARLET / AFP)
VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — LeBron James made his Olympic return after a 12-year absence. Kevin Durant played for the first time this summer.
And the two most experienced Olympians on this U.S. team opened the Paris Games — not to mention a bid for a fifth consecutive gold medal for the Americans — with a near-perfect show.
Durant made his first eight shots on the way to 23 points in less than 17 minutes, James added 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and the U.S. rolled to a 110-84 win over Serbia in the Olympic opener for both teams on Saturday.
SCHEDULE: Team USA basketball at Paris Olympics 2024
They were a combined 18 for 22 from the field — 8 of 9 for Durant, 9 of 13 for James — as the U.S. had no trouble with the reigning World Cup silver medalists from last summer in the Philippines. Jrue Holiday scored 15, Devin Booker had 12 and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each added 11 for the U.S.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 20 points for Serbia, while Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday, with the U.S. taking on upstart South Sudan — a rematch of a 101-100 escape win for the Americans in an exhibition in London earlier this month — and Serbia meeting Puerto Rico in what could essentially be an elimination game for both teams.
Kevin Durant, right, of the United States, passes the ball as he heads out of bounds while under pressure from Marko Guduric, of Serbia, in a men’s basketball game at the Paris Olympics 2024, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Before the tournament started, Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic — who coached against the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” from the U.S. — said this version of the American squad was even better than that first NBA-star-filled bunch that took the world by storm at the Barcelona Games. And when told of that comment a couple of weeks back, U.S. coach Steve Kerr laughed it off.
“When Chuck Daly coached the Dream Team, he never called timeout,” Kerr said.
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It took all of 2 minutes, 41 seconds of these Olympics for Kerr to call one. Serbia jumped out to a 10-2 lead, putting the Americans into a quick hole. Kerr subbed Joel Embiid out for Anthony Davis after that first stoppage and things changed in a hurry; a three-point play by James midway through the first gave the U.S. its first lead and a lob from James to Edwards put the Americans up 25-20 after one.
By then, the Durant show was underway.
He finished his 8-for-8 first-half showing with a fadeaway, falling to the court, that beat the halftime buzzer for a 58-49 lead. And the lead steadily grew from there: Edwards shook free of Serbia’s Nikola Jovic for a nifty baseline score to make it 84-65 after three, a play so good that Curry was dancing in delight and mimicking using a video-game controller on the sideline.