Kevin Durant drives USA to his third straight Olympic final and USA's fourth, as early Australian intensity fizzles out.
Kevin Durant's bid to join Carmelo Anthony as the only other basketball player to win three straight Olympic gold medals is still alive after another stunning display against Australia.
Durant had a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds as the U.S. defeated Australia 97-78.
The USA's all-time top-scorer was everywhere, stopping dunks, hitting threes, single-handedly putting down an early Australian uprising and now the States play for their 16th gold medal in Tokyo.
Durant single-handedly kept them in it in the first half as Australia led by 15 points in the second quarter, but the U.S. flipped the script as their superior offence took over.
Devin Booker cooked up scoring 20, Kris MIddleton and Jrue Holiday finished with 11 each, and Jayson Tatum put down 9.
Durant took a seat and watched the second-half show, saving himself for the final on Saturday (7 August, 11:30 am JST) against either Doncic's Slovenia or a France team that's already beaten the USA.
"It's something we talked about since Day 1 at training camp, looking forward to this moment," Durant said afterwards.
"A lot of people were down on us, even back at home, a lot of people feel like we wouldn't get to this moment and still think we can't finish.
"So it's on us to block all that out and just worry about the guys in the locker room, all the guys on this trip with us and see can we finish this thing out."
Durant is Team USA all-time top scorer, taking that crown from Carmelo Anthony, who scored 336 earlier in the competition, against the Czech Republic, and added 23 to his total today, resting up for much of the second half as Popovich saved his superstar for the final.
A lot like the quarter-final against Spain, Australia came out hard, defended with intensity and led 24-18 after Q1, but the the U.S. rode the storm, then started finding the open man and let their quality shine through.
Durant did his thing as the U.S. turned it on and blew the Aussies away in the third and fourth quarters.
Now a fourth straight Olympic gold medal final awaits.
Story first published on Olympics.com