Team USA narrowly escaped a humiliating loss in the Olympic Basketball Tournament semifinal against Serbia courtesy of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and LeBron James’ fourth-quarter heroics. The trio combined for 21 points in the final 10 minutes, helping their team erase a 12-point deficit.
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Given how heavily the roster relied on the veterans, Eddie Gonzalez wants Team USA to take no chances in the final against France. Durant has come off the bench in all five games and has been exceptional as a sixth man. However, Gonzalez, his close friend and former co-host of The ETCs podcast, wants coach Steve Kerr to field the veteran forward from the start in the gold medal match to avoid a repeat of the semifinal. He posted on X,
“Don’t shoot me but… [Kevin Durant] should start vs France [in the gold medal match].”
dont shoot me but…
kd should start vs france
— Eddie Gonzalez (@bansky) August 8, 2024
Durant, who was expected to start alongside Curry and James, missed all five exhibition games due to a calf strain. He had his first outing since the Suns’ season-ending loss to the Timberwolves in Team USA’s Olympic opener against Serbia.
He showed no signs of rust and scored 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-5 from beyond the arc in a comfortable win for Team USA. Many expected Kerr to promote him to the starting lineup for their next game against South Sudan. However, the veteran head coach revealed that Durant would come off the bench for the rest of the tournament.
“If Kevin had been here from day one, chances are he would be starting. That was the plan coming in, but given that he missed all of our friendlies and came in late, we had kind of established you know a lineup that we liked… He was only going to play you know certain amount of minutes against Serbia… my guess is Kevin will be playing more and more minutes so he’ll keep coming off the bench for now…”
KD accepted his role as the sixth man and has been stellar. He has been averaging 13.8 points on 58% shooting, three rebounds, two assists, and one steal in only 20.5 minutes.
Team USA didn’t need him to feature heavily until the semifinal against Serbia. Down 12 heading into the fourth quarter, Kerr turned to Durant, and he did not disappoint.
He scored seven points in the final 10 minutes to help the team secure their place in the final. As ecstatic as they were about the win, Team USA would look to start the gold medal game against France much better than they did against Serbia.
Perhaps Kerr should let the five who finished the semifinal start the final. The veteran head coach has refrained from starting Durant. However, as Gonzalez suggested, letting him play from tip-off could be the optimal strategy, especially against a French team gunning for revenge.
