The United States men's basketball team took the floor for a relatively unremarkable group-stage finale against Puerto Rico , needing just a five-point victory to secure their place as the No. 1 overall seed entering knockout play.
However, as Kevin Durant corraled a defensive board on a second striaght possession, Saturday's lopsided, 104-83 matchup entered the history books as the veteran forward passed Carmelo Anthony as Team USA's all-time leading rebounder with 126.
"I'm glad we won this game, it feels good to accomplish stuff like that with this group of guys," Durant told NBC about his rebounding record after Saturday's game. "It's a fun group of guys. I like being out here with them. It's cool to do that type of stuff, but we're trying to get that gold."
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Along with four total rebounds on the afternoon, Durant turned a in stellar all-around performance with 11 points and three assists on nearly 69 percent effective shooting despite assuming an unfamiliar role off the bench. Instead, Jayson Tatum took his starting position on the wing and finished with a double-double in a team-high 23 minutes of action, notable after the Celtics star was benched for the entirety of Team USA's opener against Germany.
Tyrese Haliburton was the odd man out of the American rotation on Saturday, sitting for all of a surprisingly close first half. Third-year Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado transcended his NBA role-player status against the league's best players in Lille, finishing with 18 points on 7-13 shooting, and a George Conditt IV layup restored Puerto Rico's lead at 37-36 midway through the second quarter.
From there, however, the United States roared on a 31-10 run, sparked by another American star off the bench in Anthony Edwards . The Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard finished seventh in MVP voting this past season but delivered an unmatched scoring performance in France on Saturday, scoring 26 points on 11-15 shooting in just 17 minutes of action.
Edwards was particularly dominant in the fourth quarter, scoring Team USA's first nine points of the fourth quarter, a stretch that included three of the Georgia product's ferocious dunks and an audacious, long-range 3-pointer. The 22-year-old superstar appeared to have an outside shot at ripping another Team USA record away from Anthony, his 37-point Olympic scoring mark, but after Edwards' final slam forced a timeout he was substituted for the rest of the game.
Durant remained on the floor after Edwards' departure, needing just six points himself to dethrone Lisa Leslie as the all-gender Team USA scoring leader — the 14-time All-Star already leads among men's players. Coach Steve Kerr elected to yank his former player minutes later as well, however, with Durant and Edwards sitting together on the bench as Team USA closed out another dominant victory.
The United States will continue its Olympic basketball journey in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, with its opponent still yet to be determined.
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