LILLE (France) - There were question marks on Kevin Durant's fitness heading into the Olympics, as he missed the five friendly games with a calf injury this summer.
The 35-year-old took those question marks, extended them high up, and turned them into exclamation points because he is not only fit, he played arguably his best half in international basketball.
The United States used it to create separation against Serbia, and win the game 110-84. Both teams still have to face South Sudan and Puerto Rico in Group C.
Turning point
The moment USA Basketball shared this post:
Kevin Durant knows he could become the first male athlete to win four basketball gold medals in the history of the Olympics, and his first eight minutes and 39 seconds on the floor showed he is ready for it.
Serbia tried everything, putting a smaller guy like Vanja Marinkovic on him, putting a bigger guy like Filip Petrusev, switching, helping, zoning - all to no avail.
Durant went off for 21 points in the first half, making all eight of his field goal attempts, including 5-of-5 three-pointers, sparking debate if this was the best scoring burst in Olympic basketball history, or that time Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points in 14 minutes against Nigeria in 2012.
When you add the fact that LeBron James was also perfect from the field before the break, it's a miracle Serbia were trailing by just nine points.
But there were no miracles after the break, coach Steve Kerr watched as his team opened up a 19-point lead after 30 minutes of play, more than enough to have a calm finish to the encounter.
Game heroes
Durant finished the game with 23 points, adding just a pair of free throws after the break, missing his first shot with eight minutes left in the game. He played a total of 16 minutes and 44 seconds.
LeBron James's first miss of the game happened at the 8:28 mark of the third quarter, celebrating his Olympic return with 21 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds, done in 27 minutes of work.
Stats don't lie
Not a lot any team can do when the United States are shooting 12-of-18 from beyond the arc in two quarters. They finished the game 18-of-32, levels above Serbia's 9-of-37 from the same distance.
Most three-point shots made all-time in a single game at the Olympics
*From the introduction of the three-point line in 1988
Bottom line
Business as usual for Kevin Durant, who is on another level when you put him in this jersey. Always has been, always will be, and the standing ovation by 27,000 fans when he subbed out with five minutes to play shows how much the basketball world loves him.
Serbia did their best, they were not scared of the star studded lineup, and even opened up the game 10-2, provoking a quick Steve Kerr timeout after less than three minutes of play.
Coach Svetislav Pesic only used his big lineup with Nikola Jokic and Nikola Milutinov together on the floor for a short stint in the fourth quarter. Don't be surprised if you see them in tandem a lot more against South Sudan and Puerto Rico over the next two games.
Jokic led the way with 20 points and 8 assists, Bogdan Bogdanovic had 14, Ognjen Dobric scored 13 for Serbia on the day.
They said
"We didn't start the second half well and they out-ran us, out-rebounded us. They are a tough opponent for sure, but definitely we can play better basketball team wise. The first game of the tournament, we knew they would play harder, play smarter. In Abu Dhabi that was preparation time, so that game doesn't count. This one counts. We knew they would come and play better basketball." - Bogdan Bogdanovic, Serbia
"It was good for us. They came out with a lot of intensity. We were giving up offensive rebounds, giving up back cuts. They were playing really well, were making shots. We turned the ball over in the first half. But we came back locked in and put some stops together. Kevin Durant kept us alive in the first half with his scoring ability and we just fed off of that." - Anthony Davis, USA
"27,000 - that’s insane. There are so many NBA jerseys, there is so much support for the game of basketball. It made me emotional to start the game." - KD
"I felt good. My endurance is not up to the level I wanted to get up to. 27,000 - that’s insane. There are so many NBA jerseys, there is so much support for the game of basketball. It made me emotional to start the game. I love when people come together to watch the game. We just have to continue playing for one another. Nobody cares about stats. Nobody cares about who shoots the most. We're all just trying to win a basketball game. That's the beauty of basketball when you can have that type of teamwork." - Kevin Durant, USA
"I felt nice out there on the floor, and I'm happy to be a part of all of this, that I'm playing against a team like this. We showed that we can compete with them. I'm not saying we're better or have more quality than them, but we can for sure compete with them. The first half showed it, and even with Kevin Durant's unbelievable role, we were hanging in there. I don't think the final score is realistic, we could've lost by less than this." - Ognjen Dobric, Serbia
"We didn't talk about defense that much, we focused a lot more on offense." - Svetislav Pesic
"We didn't talk about defense that much. We know everything starts with defense, that defense is the base of not just our game, but of most teams. Instead we focused a lot more on offense, because we knew how motivated they would be, that they'll pressure us when we try to organize our offense. While we had the rhythm, while we were precise with our offensive schemes, everything looked differently. Then we lost that, started taking a lot of early shots, we attempted 34 three-pointers which is not really our way of playing. That's just evidence that we lost the organizing part of our offense." - Serbia head coach Svetislav Pesic
"I've coached Kevin for three years. Maybe more than any player I've ever been around, when he comes back from absence, you don't notice it. He's so skilled, he just looked like he was in midseason form after not playing in a real basketball game for a couple of months. Pretty incredible." - USA head coach Steve Kerr
"(Tatum) will make his mark." - Steve Kerr
"It seems crazy, I thought I was crazy when I looked at everything and determined that these are the lineups that I want to get to. Jayson is first team all-NBA three years in a row, he's one of the best players in the world, but I went with the combinations that I felt would make sense. I talked to him, he's incredibly professional. That's tonight, it doesn't mean it's gonna stay that way the rest of the tournament. He'll make his mark. Our guys know this. The key to this whole thing is to put all the NBA stuff in the rear view mirror and just win six games." - coach Kerr talking about benching Jayson Tatum for 40 minutes
Quick notes
USA are now 3-0 against Serbia in the Olympics
Since 2000, the United States have had 21 games with 100+ points. All the other teams have a combined 16 games with 100 points or more in that same period of the Olympics
Nikola Jokic had 20 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds, becoming the first Serbian player with a 20-5-5 game at the Olympics
This was Jokic's second game with 20+ points in the Olympics, following his 25-point burst against the USA in 2016
LeBron James scored 21 points, a career-high for him at the Olympics
FIBA