Tokyo Olympics: USA men’s basketball beat Australia in the semi-final to reach the gold-medal game

By Rek Hanibal Published on August 05, 2021
Tokyo Olympics: USA men’s basketball beat Australia in the semi-final to reach the gold-medal game

Australia had led by 15 points in the second quarter before the three-time defending champions launched a 34-point run to overturn the deficit. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker spearheaded that comeback, the latter outscoring Australia single-handedly in the third quarter.

France or Slovenia await in the final. They play in Thursday's other semi-final at 12:00 BST for a place in Saturday's gold medal game.

"I've got to give credit to Australia; they came out and hit us with a nice haymaker," said Durant, who top-scored for Team USA with 23 points, with Booker adding 20.

"We were able to get some momentum going to the half. Guys came out with that intensity; we made shots as well."I feel like everything aligned for us in that second half, and that's who we are.

"I think [teams] want to get us down early in hopes that we panic. We didn't. We came out in the third quarter with amazing energy and fight."

Rek Hanibal

Rek Hanibal

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