Team USA Dominates Serbia In Olympics Opener Behind LeBron James, Kevin Durant

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Heading into the 2024 Summer Olympics, Team USA Men's Basketball faced some questions. LeBron James and the United States squad struggled during their tune-up matches, nearly losing to South Sudan as 43-point favorites. 

Then, they nearly lost to Germany before holding on to win, 92-88. 

Team USA are heavy favorites to capture the gold medal in Paris, but they had to start their Olympic run against Serbia. The Serbians are led by three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić, and they captured a silver medal last year at the FIBA World Cup without Jokic. 

However, Jokic and Serbia proved to be no match for the powerful American squad, which clearly turned its game up a level once the Olympic play started. 

Team USA Basketball opened its Olympics run against Serbia and steamrolled to victory on Sunday, 110-84, behind incredible performance by LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Team USA Basketball opened its Olympics run against Serbia and steamrolled to victory on Sunday, 110-84, behind incredible performance by LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

(Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

Kevin Durant, the all-time leading scorer in Team USA Men's Olympic history, scored 21 points in the first half on 8-8 shooting, helping the American team jump out to a 58-49 lead. That was despite starting the game poorly; Serbia led 10-2 early. 

But Durant entered the game late in the first quarter and everything changed. 

Despite playing just 16 minutes in the contest, his first game since straining his calf on July 6, Durant led all scorers with 23 points. 

LeBron James added 21 points of his own as the pair combined to shoot 71% from the field. Add in Steph Curry's 11 points and the three oldest players on the Team USA roster combined for half of the team's 110 points in the 26-point victory. 

Durant (35), James (39) and Curry (36) are all older than Larry Bird was in 1992 at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. At the time, Bird was the oldest player to ever suit up for the Team USA men's basketball squad at the Olympics. He's now fourth on that list. 

Next up for the American men's team is a rematch against South Sudan, the team that nearly beat them on July 20. 

Sudan started its Olympic journey with a win over Puerto Rico and will enter the July 31 match with a ton of confidence. 

That's great, but there should be no excuse for Team USA not to steamroll them into a 2-0 record. 

Anything can happen, though. 

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.