The U.S. has owned gold for three straight Olympics, making the middle of the medals platform property of the Americans.
The Australians tried everything they could to shove them off.
“They hit us with a nice punch,” Kevin Durant said after their men’s Olympic semifinals matchup. “We knew that team was going to get us down early and see how we’d respond.”
The response was not what Australia had hoped.
Durant scored 23 points, Devin Booker had 20 and the U.S. blew past and eventually blew away the Aussies 97-78 on Thursday after falling into a 15-point hole.
With their gold-medal streak looking in jeopardy midway through the second quarter, the Americans overwhelmed the Australians with a 48-14 stretch that gave them a 74-55 lead after three periods.
The U.S. missed its first 10 3-point attempts and didn’t hit one until late in the second quarter. Then it felt as if the Americans hardly missed again, with Booker making three 3-pointers.
