Kyrie Irving leads U.S. men’s basketball team to Olympic gold medal in Rio

WEST ORANGE – Kyrie Irving and the United States Olympic men’s basketball team, as expected, brought home the gold.

Irving, a West Orange native who helped the Cleveland Cavaliers to the National Basketball Association title just a few moths ago, had four points, four assists and three rebounds as the starting point guard as the U.S. defeated Serbia, 96-66, in the gold-medal game at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 21, the final day of the Games.

Serbia gave the U.S. its toughest game in pool play, missing a last-second three-pointer that would have sent the game into overtime as the Americans, made up of NBA players, held on for the 94-91 win Aug. 12. Irving finished with 15 points and five assists.

But in the gold-medal game, the U.S. made sure there wouldn’t be another nail-biter.

In the first pool-play game, the U.S. defeated China, 119-62, Aug. 6, as Irving had 12 points on four 3-pointers.

Irving, 24, had seven points and three assists in the 113-69 win over Venezuela, Aug. 8.

But then, the U.S. found itself in a stretch of close games.

Irving had 19 points and five assists for the U.S. in a tough 98-88 win over Australia, Aug. 10.

Following the win over Serbia, the U.S. finished 5-0 in pool play with a three-point victory over France, 100-97, Aug. 14, in which Irving set a U.S. Olympic game record with 12 assists to go along with 10 points.

Irving scored 11 points with three assists in 16 minutes in the 105-78 win over Argentina in the quarterfinals Aug. 17.

The U.S. held on to beat a good Spain team in the semifinals, 82-76, Aug. 19. Irving shot 5-for-9 from the field and finished with 13 points in 25 minutes.

For Irving, these past few months arguably have  been the best time of his career in terms of team achievements. In June, the point guard helped the Cavaliers to their first NBA championship. Irving hit the decisive three-pointer in Game 7 in the NBA Finals over the Golden State Warriors in a rematch of the 2015 NBA Finals won by the Warriors.

Irving was the Most Valuable Player of the 2014 FIBA World Cup gold-medal game as the U.S. beat the same Serbia squad.

The head coach of the U.S. team was Mike Krzyzewski, who was Irving’s collegiate coach at Duke University. Krzyzewski led the U.S. team to its third straight Olympic gold medal, with the other two in 2008 and 2012 in Beijing and London, respectively.

Irving joins Michael Jordan (1992), Scottie Pippen (1992, 1996) and Cavs teammate LeBron James (2012) as the only players to win an NBA title and Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year.

Irving attended Roosevelt Middle School in West Orange. He played at Montclair Kimberley Academy for his freshman and sophomore seasons before transferring to St. Patrick of Elizabeth for his junior and senior seasons, becoming an All-American.

Following an injury-marred freshman year at Duke, Irving declared for the NBA Draft and was selected No. 1 overall by the Cavs in 2011. The NBA Rookie of the Year in 2012, Irving is a three-time NBA All-Star (2013-15) and was the All-Star Game MVP in 2014.

  Kyrie Irving