Paul George's comeback from the broken leg that threatened his NBA career ended with a gold medal Sunday, as Team USA dominated Serbia in the Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro, 96-66.
The U.S. now has won six of the last seven gold medals in Olympic competition, with 2004 the exception. Carmelo Anthony, a member of that team, won his third gold medal and completed his Olympic career as the all-time U.S. scorer.
"It wasn't always pretty," an emotional Anthony said afterward. "But we came together July 17 (to begin practice) and we committed."
The final game was anticlimactic given the challenge Serbia had posed to Team USA in their previous game, a three-point victory in which Serbia had a 3-pointer in the final seconds that could have forced overtime. The U.S., however, put together its most complete performance of the tournament after a slow start.
Kevin Durant led the U.S. team with 30 points, hitting 10-of-19 shots. Klay Thompson was the only other starter in double figures with 12 points. DeMarcus Cousins came off the bench to score 13 points and grab 15 rebounds.
In a fictional world, George would have played a starring role. He had suffered compound fractures of two bones in his right leg on Aug. 1, 2014 in an intrasquad game as part of the preparation for the FIBA World Cup – an injury routinely described as "horrific" and one that kept him out of all but the last six games of the Pacers' 2014-15 season. As it turned out, he had one of his lesser performances, finishing with nine points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Overall, however, George was a vital contributor throughout the Olympics and perhaps its most complete player. He provided further evidence of that on Sunday, when he effectively hounded Serbia point guard Milos Telodosic on defense, one of the reasons Serbia hit just 38 percent of its field goal attempts.
George had been the subject of a four-minute feature before the game, detailing his comeback from the injury.
Team USA started slowly, trailing 14-11 at one point. It hit just 7-of-20 shots in the first quarter, and had to hit its final two to accomplish that. But it closed the period with an 8-1 run to open a four-point lead, and dominated the rest of the way.
George opened the second-quarter scoring with a steal and breakaway dunk. Its lead was up to 52-39 at halftime, and was 79-43 at the end of the third period.
Spain, which lost to Team USA on Friday by six points, defeated Australia, 89-88, to win the silver medal.
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