PARIS — , and Kevin Durant hugged. They celebrated, laughed and smiled. They made sure they were pictured together holding gold medals.
The reason they hatched this plan to play in an Olympics together — the three biggest American stars of the past two decades, future Hall of Famers, all-time greats — was for that moment. A gold-medal moment at the . To say they did it side by side by side.
It was a modern-day version of Bird-Magic-Jordan’s 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and it will be a while before we see a collection of stars like that on a U.S. Olympic team.
“We got our moment, and this is what we wanted,” James said. The U.S.
needed all three to , for . Playing in his first Olympics, with 24 points — on eight 3-pointers, including four 3s in the final 2:47 and the final one with 35 second left in the fourth quarter put the U.S.
up 96-87 and buried France. That performance followed a 36-point effort . James, at 39 years old, was the best all-around player at the Olympics and was named MVP after recording 14 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, two steals and one block against France.
Durant will hoop just about anywhere, anytime, and his 15 points helped ensure a gold and made him the first player to win four Olympic gold medals in men’s basketball. It’s quite possible that without one of those players on the roster this summer that the U.S.
does not win gold. But with all three, they weren’t losing. “Steph earned this the last few weeks, the last couple week.