Thanks for following the liveblog ... especially those who didn’t duck out when the lead got up to 41.
The final sporting event of the 2016 Rio Olympics is over. The U.S. takes its 45th gold medal and 120th overall medal.
An emotional Carmelo Anthony announced that this was the last Olympics of his career, adding:
“Despite everything that’s going on in our country, we gotta be united.”
Anthony has said he wants to be a leader in the latter stage of his career, and he is clearly taking it seriously. Team USA may not need a 36-year old Anthony as a player in 2020, but they’ll miss his experience and emotion.
It was no secret that the U.S. struggled, or at least fell short of expectations in the group stage, but they played their best game of the tournament with the gold medal on the line.
When the U.S. doesn’t play its best, other international teams can threaten them. But when they’re clicking, there’s still not another country that can get close. It’s hard to take any other conclusion from a 30-point win in a gold medal game.
The U.S. has won gold. They’ll enter Tokyo in 2020 as the heavy favorites again.
Final: USA has won Gold in Men's Basketball
The U.S. wins its third consecutive gold and now has six of seven since NBA players were allowed into the Olympics in 1992.
Serbia had a poor performance today, but they have to be happy with the outcome of their Rio performance: a 4-4 team record netted them their second Olympic men’s basketball silver.
USA 96-64 Serbia, 0:40 4th quarter
The U.S. won’t get the record for biggest margin in a gold medal game. It also looks like they’ll be “held” under 100 points. If you knew that entering the game, you’d guess this one would be very close.
(Note: If you’re late to the liveblog, this game is not close.)
USA 92-57 Spain, 2:13 4th quarter
Important note: Harrison Barnes is in the game. The gold medal is clinched.
Carmelo Anthony was also put back in the game and was then removed again to a nice ovation. This may be his last Olympics and he’ll go down as one of the greatest Team USA players in history.
Updated
USA 88-49 Spain, 3:50 4th quarter
The largest margin of victory in Olympic gold medal game history is 44 points. That came in 1948 when the U.S. beat France, 65-29.
The lead is currently at 39 points.
USA 88-47 Serbia, 5:52 4th quarter
Serbia calls timeout after an alley-oop finish by DeMar DeRozan. I don’t know what exactly you say in a timeout at this point. Probably something like: “We had a good tournament. We’re going to win silver. Let’s end this with some pride.”
USA 84-47 Serbia, 6:45 4th quarter
The U.S. is pre-celebrating on the bench. Kevin Durant is out of the game with 30 points. Carmelo Anthony is out, too, and awaiting his third gold medal.
Draymond Green is in the game.
Harrison Barnes still watches and waits.
Fewest pts by US player in Olympics since 1992:
— Adam Reisinger (@AdamReisinger) August 21, 2016
Okafor (2004) - 0
Stockton (1992) - 11
Kidd (2008) - 13
Green (2016) - 13
Barnes (2016) - 15
The U.S. has nearly a 40-point lead with just over 8 minutes left and Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green still haven’t entered the game.
USA 82-43 Serbia, 9:05 4th quarter
Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler just dove on the floor for a loose ball. They don’t have to. In fact, considering this game is over and they’re worth tens of millions, they probably shouldn’t. But they still did. No one can say NBA players don’t care about these games or don’t try hard.
End of the 3rd quarter: USA 79-43 Serbia
Are we still calling it a run? Sure. The U.S. is now on a 67-29 “run.” Or, you know, they’re just the far superior team.
USA 77-41 Serbia, 1:14 4th quarter
Two more for Cousins on a monster dunk. He has 13 points and 14 boards. Meanwhile, Jokic has just 4 points and 3 boards on the heels of his big game earlier in the tournament versus the U.S. It’s not so much that the U.S. neutralized him, but that Serbia’s gameplan didn’t much include him. Strange.
USA 75-40 Serbia, 1:46 3rd quarter
Nikola Kalinić has now fouled out. It might be the best performance of the game for Serbia because he at least doesn’t have to suffer anymore.
USA 73-39 Serbia, 2:23 3rd quarter
Serbia looks completely defeated. The only thing worse than their body language is their 3-for-19 shooting from three.
USA 66-37 Serbia, 4:12 3rd quarter
Durant now has 28 points and Klay Thompson has 12. So a team featuring some of the best players in the NBA is getting 60% of its points from two Warriors in the gold medal game. And Steph Curry isn’t even in Brazil.
So, yes, Golden State should be pretty good again this year.
USA 64-35 Serbia, 4:47 3rd quarter
At the risk of losing liveblog readers, this game is over. (Please! Don’t go!) The U.S. isn’t letting off the gas. If anything, they’re playing better now than they did in the 2nd quarter. The defense is stifling and they’re making the extra pass on offense to get wide wide wide WIDE open shots.
The positive new for Serbia is that they’re less than 15 minutes away from a silver medal.
Updated
USA 57-33 Serbia, 6:00 3rd quarter
Serbia seems to have given up on the three-pointer. You can’t blame them, they’re just 3-for-18 from deep in the game. But to have any hope of coming back, they’re going to need to shoot (and hit) from three.
USA 55-33 Serbia, 7:35 3rd quarter
Teodosic knocks down a jumper with a man in his face. He has struggled from the field today, shooting 0-for-4 from three, but leads his team in scoring with 9 points.
USA 55-31 Serbia, 9:05 3rd quarter
Carmelo Anthony, who didn’t play much in the first half, opened the scoring in the half for the U.S. with a three. At least Serbia can say it didn’t let Durant score?
Second half underway!
Here we go. Serbia needs to chip away in the first five minutes or this will end with the intensity of an international friendly.
Ryan Lochte has to love that the Mongolian wrestling coaches have come along on the final day of the Olympics to get people talking about something else.
people: "wow harrison barnes is the worst team usa player ever"
— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) August 21, 2016
me: pic.twitter.com/bA2jEDJjA7
Serbia needs some positive thoughts to keep them motivated for the second half. I suspect they’re not following this liveblog in the locker room, but if so, here’s something they can rally around:
At the end of the 1st half, Serbia is beating Kevin Durant, 29-24.
An e-mail from reader Boris Handžiski, quoting the liveblog:
“Since then, Serbia is beating the U.S. by a score of 99-82.”
Is Serbia still beating the US?
Love how everything Americans do is given a negative spin.
It wasn’t a negative spin. It was an accurate stat from early in the game when Serbia was winning. There’s no possible negative spin to put on anything the U.S. is doing now. It’s complete domination.
Serbia did not play well in the first half and the U.S. played its best basketball of the Rio Games. That’s the exact recipe for an underdog team losing in a blowout.
Sometimes stats are misleading, but this is not one of those times. The U.S. is shooting 44% from the field to Serbia’s 31% and dominating the boards, 31-16. Serbia has a huge advantage in fouls, turnovers and missed three-pointers, though. That’s ... something.
End of the 1st half: USA 52-29 Serbia
That second quarter performance by the U.S. was what many thought the team was capable of at the start of the tournament. After struggling at the start of the game, the U.S. closed the half on a 40-15 run.
USA 49-29 Serbia, 0:45 2nd quarter
More free throw action for DeMarcus Cousins. He then exits with 11 points and 12 rebounds. His big game is only being overshadowed by Durant, who now has 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Serbia is actually looking more confused on how to guard him as the game goes on.
Love watching really good players whose NBA teams suck (Cousins, Carmelo) get to play in high pressure games that matter
— Kevin McCaffrey (@KevinMcCaff) August 21, 2016
USA 45-25 Serbia, 2:46 2nd quarter
The ugliness of Team USA’s offense from early in the game is over. They’re now getting wide open looks from inside, outside and mid-range.
USA 40-22 Serbia, 4:50 2nd quarter
Another three by Durant is followed by another tough bucket underneath by Cousins. That inside-outside combo is killing Serbia right now.
Also killing Serbia? The fact that they’re shooting just 32% from the floor.
Updated
USA 35-22 Serbia, 5:45 2nd quarter
Kyrie Irving hits two free throws. Kalinic now has four fouls and Raduljica has three. Serbia needs to make this game ugly and scrappy ... but they also need to have players left to play in the second half.
USA 33-22 Serbia, 5:59 2nd quarter
Teodosic hits a runner to get Serbia a little closer. And that came after Kevin Durant actually missed a shot. That’s the most positive series of plays Serbia has seen since the first quarter.
USA 33-20 Serbia, 6:57 2nd quarter
And here comes Kevin Durant. Another three-pointer ... and now another ... gives him 12 points on seven field goal attempts. He only scored 12 points on four shots in the first match-up.
Annnnnnd there’s two more points by Durant on a turnover and dunk. He’s got 14.
USA 25-15 Serbia, 8:36 2nd quarter
DeMarcus Cousins now has 7 points and 7 rebounds with 5 of his points from the line. Serbia is struggling to handle him inside and they’re racking up fouls try to. Three Serbian starters now have at least two fouls.
The U.S. run is at 13-1.
USA 23-15 Serbia, 9:16 2nd quarter
The U.S. opens the 2nd quarter fast and now is on an 11-1 run. Serbia Jokic, who had the huge game in the group stage, has 0 points so far today.
End of the 1st quarter: USA 19-15 Serbia
The U.S. shot just 35% from the field, but still has the lead. Serbia only hit at 31-percent. Yeah, it hasn’t been an extremely beautiful display of offensive basketball so far.
USA 19-15 Serbia, 0:25 1st quarter
So much for the complaint about Durant putting them up from too deep ... he just knocked one down from way beyond the top of the circle in transition.
Updated
USA 16-14 Serbia, 1:05 1st quarter
The U.S. takes its first lead on a lay-in by DeMarcus Cousins on a great feed from DeMar DeRozan. But then Cousins missed the free throw. The U.S. is now 4-for-8 from the line or as it’s sometimes called: “they’re a DeAndre.”
Serbia 14-12 USA, 1:40 1st quarter
Kevin Durant needs to shoot more than he did the first time these two teams met, but his last two attempts have been long heaves from way behind the three-point line with time left on the shot clock. He’s now 1-for-4 from the field and 0-for-2 from three.
Serbia 13-11 USA, 3:30 1st quarter
Long way to go, obviously, but remember that Serbia lost just 94-91 in the group stage ... and that was after trailing 9-0 at the start and being down as much as 22. Since then, Serbia is beating the U.S. by a score of 99-82.
It’s no wonder Mike Krzyzewski looks so stressed on the bench.
First USA pass with 7 on the shot clock.
— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) August 21, 2016
In most games in the tournament, defense has been the USA’s problem. Not so far today. The offense has no movement.
Serbia 9-9 USA, 4:49 1st quarter
The U.S. is creating some offense with defense. DeAndre Jordan just ended a Serbian layup attempt with a massive block that created a fast break.
Serbia 7-7 USA, 5:55 1st quarter
Durant finishes a dunk after a steal. He is being active on the offensive end so far. In the first game against Serbia, he only put up four shots from the field. The U.S. needs its best player to be more involved in the biggest game.
Serbia 7-4 USA, 6:35 1st quarter
It looks like the good Serbian team showed up so far in this one. However, the U.S. would really help itself by playing more deliberately on the offensive end. So far it’s had some ugly turnovers and unnecessary shots.
Serbia 3-2 USA, 8:31 1st quarter
DeAndre Jordan scores inside and is fouled. You’ll never guess what happened next. Actually, you will: he missed the free throw.
Interesting that Jokic isn’t starting for Serbia after he had a huge game against the U.S. in the group stage.
Serbia 3-0 USA, 9:13 1st quarter
After another U.S. turnover, this time by Kevin Durant, Macvan hits a wide open three to open the scoring.
Tip-off!
U.S. controls the tip, but Kyrie Irving turns the ball over on his first pass.
Here are the starting lineups for both teams:
USA: Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, DeAndre Jordan, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving
Serbia: Milan Macvan, Nikola Kalinic, Miroslav Raduljica, Stefan Markovic, Milos Teodosic
Serbia will need to be at their best today to have a chance to win. Obviously. But consistency has been a major problem so far in the Olympics.
The team only went 2-3 in the group stage, including a 15-point loss to Australia -- the same team they blew out in Friday’s semifinal game. This is a team that lost to France, almost lost to Croatia ... and almost beat Kevin Durant and the star-studded U.S. team.
For the sake of good entertainment, if nothing else, let’s hope the good Serbian team shows up today.
It will be interesting to see how Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Thibodeau and the U.S. coaching staff handles Serbian big man Nikola Jokic. He had 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting in the narrow 94-91 win in the group stage. DeAndre Jordan has made his career on defense, and he’ll need to show up big for the U.S. today.
No matter the outcome of the gold medal game, the men’s and women’s tournament will have the same three nations medaling thanks to Spain* knocking off Australia in this morning bronze medal game.
The U.S., Spain and Serbia medaled on the women’s side and the same three nations will do so for the men. I think we can safely call them the best basketball countries in the world.
*Spain and the officials, depending on your opinion of the foul call on Spain’s final possession.
Updated
Welcome to the liveblog for the Men’s Basketball gold medal game.
The U.S. will try to win its third consecutive men’s gold while Serbia has an opportunity to best its lone men’s basketball medal: a silver from the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Serboa has an opportunity, however small. The U.S. team has looked beatable at times in Rio, but no team has completed the job. Serbia almost did it in the group stage, missing a three-pointer on their last possession to fall 94-91. They’re about to get one more shot.
Please feel free to participate in the liveblog by e-mailing me at dj.gallo.casual@theguardian.com or tweeting to @DJGalloEtc.
DJ will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s his thoughts on the US women’s gold:
