U.S. men’s basketball dominates in Olympic victory over Iran

The ball popped from one hand to another, the U.S. men’s basketball team trading open looks for slightly better ones. Eventually, it went to Kevin Durant directly in front of his team’s bench with no defense around.

As Durant launched the open three, his teammates behind him began to cheer, slowly turning the volume up from one to 10, getting their loudest right as the ball splashed through the net.

Now this was more like it.

Following a tournament opening loss to France Sunday, the U.S. responded swiftly and viscously against a seriously undermanned Iranian team, beating them 120-66.

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Iran is the only team in the tournament without an active NBA player.

After struggling in his Olympics debut, Damian Lillard hit seven threes to score a team-high 21 points. All 12 players on the roster scored, six of them in double figures. After losing to France, U.S. coach Gregg Popovich added Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker to the starting lineup, replacing Zach LaVine and Draymond Green.

Holiday scored eight points and was a plus-32

They quickly built a double-digit lead in the first that ballooned to more than 50 in the fourth. The U.S. continues pool play Saturday night in Japan against the Czech Republic.