After defeating Lithuania 89-74 on Saturday, Team USA beat Turkey 81-64 to win the gold medal at the FIBA World Championship Tournament. USA was led by Kevin Durant as usual as he continued to quiet the wild and loud Turkey fans throughout the game scoring 28 points which included seven 3-pointers. Turkey was playing in front of their home fans which caused an intense atmosphere but the young Team USA showed great poise throughout the game with only 11 turnovers. It would be USA’s defense that helped win the game for them as they forced Turkey to shoot 36% from the field compared to USA’s 44%. Durant showed a lot of emotion during this game and has done so throughout the tournament. I don’t think I can remember seeing him show this kind of motion before in the NBA or even in the playoffs when they squared off with the Lakers. However, if Durant plays with this much intensity during the regular season other NBA teams are going to have some problems handling him. It’s not out of the question to think that Durant won’t win the MVP this season especially since Lebron now has 2 other guys to help share the load.
By winning the championship USA automatically qualifies for the 2012 London Olympics allowing them to sit out of the qualifying tournament. This is the first time they have won the FIBA title since 1994. It will be interesting to see who plays in that tournament and whether or not guys like Lebron, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant will play alongside of Durant if he decides to play. After this tournament I have no doubt that he will be at London games.
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