Kevin Durant Takes (Playful) Jab at Nets Rival [WATCH]

On the world’s biggest stage, Kevin Durant shone brightest, serving as the undisputed leader of Team USA during its run to Olympic gold. He dropped 29 points in the championship game to lead the Americans to an 87-82 win in the final at the Tokyo Olympics.

Meanwhile, another member of the Brooklyn Nets also stuffed the stat sheet in a medal game. Patty Mills, who recently signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Nets, had 42 points to lead Australia to bronze.

Shortly after that game, Durant began filming a selfie-style video on the court at Saitama Super Arena. He was first joined by Team USA assistant coach Ime Udoka, an assistant coach for the Nets this past season who in June was named the Boston Celtics’ new head coach.

But Mills wasn’t having any of that.

“Get outta here, man!” the newest Net joked with a smile. “That’s my teammate.”

That’s when Durant issued a playful warning of sorts: “There’s gonna be problems for the Boston Celtics this year!” the nine-time All-Star yelled as Udoka walked away.

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Celtics Respond

Nearby, Celtics star Jayson Tatum took offense to Durant’s jab, saying, “F*** outta here!”

Udoka had a response of his own: “We know how to lock Patty’s a** up!” he said. After all, the Americans were responsible for eliminating Mills and the Australians earlier in the Olympics.

The important context here is that the entire exchange was tongue-in-cheek. Both sides laughed throughout the back and forth, and it’s clear there’s no real bad blood between them.

That said, with Udoka now leading the Celtics, Brooklyn-Boston might have some extra spice to it during the 2021-22 season.

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Durant Shines Brightest on World’s Biggest Stage

With 8.8 seconds remaining, Durant stepped to the free-throw line and knocked down both of his attempts to seal Team USA’s 87-82 win against France.

Durant’s 29-point effort in Friday’s gold medal games came on the heels of 30-point games in each of his previous two gold medal games, in 2012 and 2016.

Damian Lillard summed it up best: “He (Durant) is the best player in the world,” he said, per Yahoo.

Durant, meanwhile, said his mindset was to simply leave it all on the court with a gold medal on the line.

“It’s winning time,” Durant said, per NBA.com. “It’s one game where you go home, it’s no series. I’ve gotta give my all every second I’m out there and I prepare the right way. I’ve just gotta go out there and trust that work. I was able to knock down some shots to keep us afloat a little bit. In the fourth quarter (Damian Lillard) took over for us and guys made plays at the end.”

The theme for this iteration of Team USA: overcoming adversity. And with its win over France in the championship game, its tournament in Tokyo came full circle.

“We went through some real adversity,” Durant said, per NBA.com. “We lost a game in the tournament, we lost two exhibition games. We had some unusual circumstances with COVID, guys playing in the Finals, coming in late, and we just fought through everything. Two-and-a-half weeks away from our families basically in a bubble. It was definitely different, so I’m glad we finished the job.”

France, with NBA players like Rudy Gobert, Evan Fourneir and Nicolas Batum, proved to be a true test.

“It meant a lot especially playing against this team,” Durant said, via NBA.com. “France is a good team. They don’t quit. They play hard every minute they’re on the floor. A big team. So it presented a nice challenge for us, but we wanted them again. We wanted to play them again just like we wanted Australia again. We were able to finish this game off. Everybody, they sacrificed from day one, put the team first, and we were able to come out here and get the gold.”

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