NBA fans can substitute their usual bickering and overwhelming pride for their specific teams today to celebrate the astonishing accomplishments of some of their biggest stars. Led by Brooklyn Nets powerhouse Kevin Durant and legendary coach Gregg Popovich, the courageous Team USA men's basketball team pushed their way to a gold medal victory on Friday at the Olympics, beating out Team France 87-82. This marks the team's fourth and most hard-fought gold medal win in four straight Olympics -- proof that Team USA truly has the best basketball talent the world can offer.
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Kevin Durant stole the show in Saturday's game, scoring 29 points as he led the team to victory. "When you're a part of a team that's evolving by the second, it's amazing to see. Each game we continued to grow. I'm grateful we all committed to it, we stuck with it and we finished it off," Durant said after the game. The Nets Forward signed a $198 million four-year contract extension with the Brooklyn team just hours before the Olympic final.
Teammate Draymond Green was quick to sing Durant's praise, as well. "He's one of the greatest players to ever play this game. One of the most special guys you've ever seen lace their shoes up and take a basketball court," Green said.
Though the victory marks a prestigious moment for the team and the country as a whole, their journey through the 2021 Tokyo Olympics came with major challenges. The team suffered a crushing defeat against Team Nigeria in a preliminary game, casting major doubt on their tenure at the Tokyo Olympics.
LeBron James took to Twitter to congratulate the team, of which he didn't take part in. "CONGRATULATIONS MEN!", Lebron wrote with a gold medal emoji. President Biden also took a moment to praise them with a two-minute video on Twitter expressing his pride over the victory.
Check out both tweets below and congratulations Team USA!