Kevin Durant: 'It's still pretty weird for me to do stuff like this' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports Credit Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant became the highest-scoring player in Team USA history as the Americans locked up a quarterfinal spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a 119-84 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday in Saitama, Japan.

Player of the Game EFF 30 Kevin Durant Points 23 Accuracy 8-11 Rebounds 8 Assists 6

Durant made eight of his 11 shots and finished with 23 points, eight rebounds, and six assists to spark the victory. He now has 354 points for his Olympic career, putting him ahead of Carmelo Anthony's 336.

"We started off slow, and they hit us in the mouth early. We took that punch, came out, and played a great game on both ends," the 32-year-old Brooklyn Nets forward told the press after the contest.

Durant went on to explain what it means to him being the all-time leading scorer of Team USA in the Olympics: "You just think about all the players that played in this program. Names like Carmelo, who is a guy that I shared two Olympic teams with, and I tried to steal some of his techniques and approach to these games.

I don't know man, it's still pretty weird for me to do stuff like this. Because I play a team sport and I try my hardest to make it about the group. But it is special to be able to do something like that. Obviously, this is something that I worked on my whole career, and something that I've expanded my whole career, and to consistently do it... It's pretty cool."

Asked about how what it takes to be the team leader of this particular squad, KD replied: "I've been asked to be relied upon every time I played since I was 8 years old. My coaches were expecting me to go out there and adapt to any situation, so it's no different for me here. Coach Pop - we follow his lead. And I stood in after that, and the last game it was Dame (Lillard), and tonight JT (Tatum). I have to be prepared to do every single thing out on the court because I don't want to be seen as a liability anywhere. I want to feel like my coaches can trust me in any situation," Durant concluded.

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