By Adam Roberts – 8/5/2021
After a quiet quarterfinal against Spain, Khris Middleton re-emerged last night as an important bench piece for the USA men’s basketball team. Couple that with a fine contribution from Jrue Holiday plus a big third quarter for the team in general, and the Americans are one win away from silencing all the doubt they faced ahead of the Olympics.
Holiday and Middleton each scored 11 points, with Jrue adding eight rebounds and eight assists, while Kevin Durant scored 23 points and Devin Booker chipped in with 20 as Team USA knocked off Australia, 97-to-78 in the semifinals. The Americans overcame a 15-point deficit to advance to Friday night’s gold medal game against France.
The French outlasted Slovenia, 90-to-89, in the other semifinal. Evan Fournier had 23 points and four threes for the French while Luka Doncic had a triple double with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 18 assists for the Slovenian unit.