Unstoppable Durant helps USA smash Serbia, despite Embiid's struggles

The USA beat Serbia 110-84 in its first men's basketball game at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics on Sunday, thanks to a dominant performance by Kevin Durant.

Although Durant missed all five warm-up contests due to a calf injury, and only had a few training sessions to get familiar with his teammates, the "Slim Reaper" didn't even need to shake off rust once he stepped onto the court.

After making each of his first eight shots, including five from downtown, Durant scored 23 points for the USA, including 21 in the first half.

"I've been playing ball my whole life, so I simplified it," Durant said after the game. "And when the ball touched my hand, I was aggressive."

"When he comes back from a long absence, you don't notice it," USA head coach Steve Kerr said of Durant. "I mean, he is so skilled and he just looked like he was in midseason form after not playing in a real basketball game for a couple of months. Pretty incredible."

The 35-year-old Durant was not the only dominant veteran in Sunday's game. LeBron James, 39, made nine of his 13 shots while tallying 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. He and Durant became the first pair of USA teammates to both pour in more than 20 points in an Olympic opener.

"Whatever it takes," James said. "It's going to be somebody different every day. And we have that type of firepower."

"LeBron puts his imprint on the game in so many different ways," Kerr said of James. "It's not just his skill and his strength and his size, but it's his emotion, his confidence. Just the way he infuses our team with energy and confidence at 39 is just amazing."

Despite the USA's big win, two of its players didn't have the best night. The 2024 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jayson Tatum didn't make it off the bench against Serbia. Kerr said he "felt like an idiot not playing him."

The other unhappy member of the team was Joel Embiid. He played less than 12 minutes and finished with four points, two rebounds, one block, two turnovers and three fouls.

He started for the USA and was tasked with guarding three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic as Serbia raced to a 10-2 lead after the opening tip-off. As a result, Embiid was the only American player to finish with a negative rating (-8) in the contest.

Jokic contributed 20 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals in 30 minutes for Serbia. The game was basically a 50-50 affair when he was on the court, but his teammates quickly fell apart whenever he took a break on the bench.