Durant rallies USA into basketball semis

Kevin Durant scored 29 points helping the United States to reverse a ten-point deficit into a game defining lead against Spain in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo 2020 Men’s Basketball competition at the Saitama Super Area in Saitama, Japan yesterday, setting up a medal-round decider against Australia.

Spain had built the double-digit lead benefiting from some poor shooting by the American’s mid-way through the second-quarter, but USA Team Captain Durant rallied his team back into the game, finishing with a team-high 29 points, making 10 of 17 field goals, four of those three-pointers, to go with four assists in a 95-81 win.

The United States trailed by 10 with 3:25 left in the second quarter, but wiped out that deficit by half-time thanks to a 7-0 run to end the quarter.

Durant, who contributed five of the last seven points the United States scored before the half, hit three three-pointers early in the third quarter to extend that run to 20-4, as the defending gold medalists opened up a nine-point lead.

From there the United States held onto the lead right till the end, Jayson Tatum (13), Jrue Holiday (12), Damian Lillard (11) and Zach Lavine (10) all scoring in double digits.

On another day, Ricky Rubio’s 38 points on 65 per cent shooting could and should have been a winning effort, but outside of Sergio Rodriguez’s 16 points and Willy Henangomez’s 10, there was not much the Spanish could get from their support cast. Rubio hit 13 field goals, including four three pointers, in his tally, also dishing out four assists and crashing the boards as many times.

Earlier, Luka Doncic inspired Slovenia to a 94-70 win over Germany and a place in the semi-finals, in their first appearance in an Olympic basketball competition since gaining independence from Yugoslavia. Doncic scored 20 points to go with 11 assists and eight rebounds, but played more as a distributor in the first quarter with just four points to his three assists as Slovenia jumped to a 11-point lead after the first tenminute phase of play.

While Doncic, who plays for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, is the star attraction of the team, he has a strong supporting cast, that were particularly visible yesterday, with Zoran Dragic contributing a game high 27 points and Mike Tobey scoring 13 points to go with 11 rebounds.

Only two German players scored in double figures – Maodo Lo with 11 and Niels Giffey’s 10 – with the team as a whole making 24 off 63 attempted field goals. Slovenia will take on France, who beat Italy later in the night, in the final four while Australia beat Argentina to set up a semi-final against favourites, the United States.