LONDON, England -- Leading by one point after the first quarter, the U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball Team (1-0) rode a red-hot second quarter shooting streak to a convincing 98-71 win over France (0-1) to open its play in the 2012 London Olympics on Sunday afternoon at the Olympic Park Basketball Arena in London, England.
A game-high 22 points from Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder), who added nine rebounds and shot 7-of-7 from the free throw line, led the USA, while Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) added 14 points. Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) rounded out the USA's double-digit scorers with 10 points, including 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
"We're pleased," said USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski (Duke University). "We played a very good game against an outstanding team. France is so well-coached and in (Tony) Parker, they have as good of a guard as there is in the tournament. I thought we did a good job defensively. We shared the ball. We assisted on 27 of our 31 buckets and we rebounded the ball very well. Overall, it was a good first step or us, beating an outstanding French team."
To view the entire story, visit the official website of USA Basketball.
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