Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.
Not that there was ever much doubt about who the greatest U.S. Olympic men’s basketball player was, but Kevin Durant further cemented his international legacy in Tuesday’s quarterfinal win over Brazil.
With 11 points in the 35-point blowout, Durant passed Lisa Leslie as the U.S.’s all-time leading scorer in Olympic competition. He passed her mark of 488 career points in the third quarter and finished the game at 494. With two games remaining, including a meeting with Serbia in Thursday’s semifinals, he’ll likely push the record even higher.
Leslie held the record for 16 years, since her last Olympic appearance in 2008. She congratulated Durant on the moment, and he shot the respect back her way in a special exchange between a couple basketball legends.
Congratulations @KDTrey5 I’m honored to have you break my @TeamUSA Olympic record!!! Our dedication to our country is evident and etched in stone!! Now go get another Gold medal my friend! One Team, One Goal, Gold!
#GoUSA— Lisa Leslie (@LisaLeslie) August 6, 2024
Records are meant to be broken, I’ll hold on to this until another great comes along and passes me up…Lisa Leslie you are the gold standard in basketball, I appreciate your love and support throughout the years..much love to you always…it’s all about the gold baby. Let’s get… pic.twitter.com/huJxy8Qywa
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 7, 2024
“Congratulations @KDTrey5 I’m honored to have you break my @TeamUSA Olympic record!!! Our dedication to our country is evident and etched in stone!! Now go get another Gold medal my friend!” Leslie said.
In response, Durant said: “Records are meant to be broken, I’ll hold on to this until another great comes along and passes me up…Lisa Leslie you are the gold standard in basketball, I appreciate your love and support throughout the years..much love to you always…it’s all about the gold baby.”
By the way, how cool is that photo from KD?
Durant entered the Paris Olympics already tied with Carmelo Anthony for the most Olympic gold medals by a male basketball player with three. He’ll become the first to win four if the U.S. completes the job in Paris, which would also tie Leslie’s four gold medals and Carmelo Anthony’s four overall (he has one bronze).
Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird hold the record for gold with five apiece, though Taurasi is currently in pursuit of No. 6 — a mark I’m not sure anybody will ever reach again. With the way Durant scores so effortlessly, he might be in the process of setting his own untouchable mark.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
One of the weirdest things to occur during Tuesday’s quarterfinal action was the dispute between France center Rudy Gobert and head coach Vincent Collet.
In case you missed it, Gobert only played three minutes in the team’s win over Canada and after the game told reporters his limited action was due to a surgery he had on his finger. Collet, however, disputed Gobert’s account of things, saying the big man didn’t have surgery and was benched due to matchups.
You can read all about it here. It’s clear somebody lied.
Of course, anytime Gobert comes up and there’s an opportunity to poke fun at the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green is sure to pop up out of nowhere. And sure enough, his podcast was rolling and he was ready to chime in on the situation involving his archrival.
"To be taken out of the lineup on any other team in the Olympics as an NBA player, not named Team USA is kind of crazy"
—@Money23Green reacts to Rudy Gobert getting benched for France pic.twitter.com/YqhOwmuwBd
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) August 7, 2024
“To be taken out of the lineup on any other team in the Olympics, as an NBA player, not named Team USA is kind of crazy,” Green said.
Look, I can’t say Green is wrong. Though this has been an ongoing issue for Gobert, who simply can’t match up against teams that can go small and get him switched out on islands against guards, you don’t necessarily expect it to show up on the international stage.
However, as jarring as it may have been to see him benched in the Olympics — if that’s indeed what happened — it’s also kind of crazy to be trashing an Olympian from a couch back home. Green might want to sit this one out.
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