Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior WriterJul 27, 2024, 07:37 AM ET
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ESPN.com NBA writer since 2010
Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years
Author of two books
PARIS — Having the two best big men dealing with illness when facing a three-time NBA MVP isn’t ideal, but that is what Team USA is dealing with as it readies to open Olympic play.
Joel Embiid missed practice Saturday with an illness, while coach Steve Kerr said that Anthony Davis had missed practice time over the past several days with illness just ahead of the national team’s opener against Nikola Jokic and Serbia on Sunday.
Kerr, however, isn’t worried anyone will be forced to miss the game, as Davis was able to practice Saturday.
“I’m confident we’ll have everybody ready [Sunday],” Kerr said.
That seems to include Kevin Durant, who took part in his third consecutive practice and is on track to play against Serbia after missing Team USA’s five exhibition games with a calf injury.
“Hopefully [he’ll play],” Kerr said. “He came through the scrimmage two days ago pretty well, and we’ll have another practice today and we’ll just keep taking it day by day.”
Kerr didn’t commit to immediately starting Durant, though that likely will be the role at some point for the all-time leading scorer for Team USA at the Olympics. One thing that has been made clear is Durant’s teammates are eager to have him out there.
“Instant impact,” LeBron James said of Durant on Saturday. “He looked extremely well the other day in practice. Obviously his wind and his rhythm is going to continue to come, but if we’re able to get him back and make a huge impact to our club.”
Added Jrue Holiday: “That’s Kevin Durant. What are we even talking about?”
Team USA beat Serbia handily 105-79 on July 17 in Abu Dhabi. The team collectively did an excellent job on Jokic in that game, holding him to an uncharacteristic 6-of-19 shooting. The Serbians, however, rested several key players, including star guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, and were playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Americans are expecting a different challenge. Serbia, which won the silver medal in last year’s World Cup without Jokic, has a deep team with excellent size and experience. Jokic and Bogdanovic both played in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro when Team USA beat Serbia in the gold medal game.
“Jokic, with what he’s able to do, obviously we know what he does at NBA, but maybe a little bit higher usage in the international game,” said Davis, who was still a little stuffed up. “It’s going to be fun.”
In their final tuneup last week against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece in Belgrade, the Serbians were impressive in a 20-point win. Bogdanovic, who starred for the team in last year’s World Cup, had 19 points, while Jokic had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
“This is not like the NBA, where it’s a marathon,” James said. “This is a sprint. This is Michael Johnson/Usain Bolt-type game. The real thing starts tomorrow … so we need to be ready to go, which we will be.”
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