{"id":619089,"date":"2021-08-07T12:06:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T16:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=619089"},"modified":"2021-08-07T12:06:26","modified_gmt":"2021-08-07T16:06:26","slug":"team-usa-basketball-wins-fourth-consecutive-olympic-gold-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/team-usa-basketball-wins-fourth-consecutive-olympic-gold-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"Team USA basketball Wins Fourth Consecutive Olympic Gold Medal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fteam-usa-basketball-wins-fourth-consecutive-olympic-gold-medal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=619089&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1332822654.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>All the talk that the world had caught up to Team U.S.A. basketball can be thrown out the window.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Their path to defending three consecutive gold medals started off as poorly as one could imagine. They lost Bradley Beal due to COVID, Kevin Love to not being healthy, and somehow lost back-to-back exhibition games to Nigeria and Australia. Head coach Gregg Popovich was widely questioned as was the talent he brought with him to Tokyo.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the end, none of it mattered as Team U.S.A. continued its run of dominance, winning a gold medal Saturday morning by beating France 87-82.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s the fourth consecutive gold medal for Team U.S.A. and they were able to do it against the team that had beaten them earlier in the Olympics in group play.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Kevin Durant won his third gold medal and became the greatest scorer in the history of Team U.S.A. as the first player to score 100+ points in three different Olympics.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"8\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kevin Durant is the first player in US Men&#8217;s Basketball history to score 100+ in three different Olympics. <\/p>\n<p>H\/T <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ESPNStatsInfo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ESPNStatsInfo<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lW6HPaiK8e\">pic.twitter.com\/lW6HPaiK8e<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Athletic (@TheAthletic) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthletic\/status\/1423841020270182406?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Durant is arguably the greatest player in the history of the team, becoming the U.S.A.\u2019s all-time leader in points and three pointers. On Saturday, he had 29 points, six rebounds, and six assists en route to his third gold medal.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cKevin Durant is exactly who we thought he was,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/2757335\/2021\/08\/07\/2021-olympics-team-usa-basketball-gold-medal-kevin-durant\/\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span> Draymond Green. \u201cOne of the greatest players to ever play this game. One of the most special guys you\u2019ve ever seen lace their shoes up and take a basketball court.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHe carried this team like we needed him to, like he\u2019s supposed to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Durant was the clear leader of the team, and did so after coming off a grueling seven-game series against the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA playoffs, and not too long after tearing his achilles.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThis is one of those special journeys,\u201d Durant <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/31977021\/team-usa-men-basketball-beats-france-win-fourth-straight-gold-tokyo-olympics\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a part of a team that\u2019s evolving by the second, it\u2019s amazing to see. Each game we continued to grow. I\u2019m grateful we all committed to it, we stuck with it and we finished it off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The pressure is always immense for U.S. basketball, as they\u2019ve dominated the sport internationally for decades. But as basketball has become more of a global game, international teams have become littered with NBA players. It\u2019s no longer a foregone conclusion that America will take home the gold in basketball at the Olympics.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For France, they had reigning defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert, current L.A. Clipper Nicolas Batum, and Evan Fournier who recently signed with the New York Knicks. The French team was no joke, and gave Team U.S.A. all they could handle.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It was the closest gold-medal game that U.S. Basketball has played since sending professionals to the Olympics in 1992, but France was unable to get over the hump as they had to settle for their second silver medal in Olympic basketball.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cKD, Dame, all those guys are going to make shots that no one can guard at times, but when you [commit] those type of turnovers and also the missed free throws, those kinds of details, you shoot yourself in the foot,\u201d Gobert <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/2757335\/2021\/08\/07\/2021-olympics-team-usa-basketball-gold-medal-kevin-durant\/\">said<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The 2020 Olympic basketball team will certainly not be remembered as the most impressive roster or for the most dominant run through the tournament. They will be remembered for battling through adversity. From scrambling to put together a roster, to COVID having its way, nothing was easy. But in the end, another gold medal will fly back to the States, and the rest of the world is still trying to catch up.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cEvery championship is special, every group you\u2019re with is special, but I can be honest and say this is the most responsibility I\u2019ve ever felt,\u201d Popovich <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/31977021\/team-usa-men-basketball-beats-france-win-fourth-straight-gold-tokyo-olympics\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cThe responsibility is awesome, and I felt it every day for several years. I\u2019m feeling pretty wiped out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to sports@dailywire.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><i>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All the talk that the world had caught up to Team U.S.A. basketball can be thrown out the window.\u00a0Their path to defending three consecutive gold medals started off as poorly &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}