Kevin Durant and Draymond Green Torch ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins and All Team USA Critics After Winning Gold: ‘Act Like You’re American!’
After Team USA overcame talented international teams and many doubters to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green lashed out at their critics for not being more supportive.
Few Olympic teams and athletes have higher perceived expectations of winning a gold medal than the US men’s basketball team. But the Tokyo Games started out bleak for Team USA, losing their opener to France last month, their first basketball loss in the Olympics since 2004.
The opening loss, paired with two defeats during exhibition games, caused many to question Team USA’s ability to compete for a gold medal in Tokyo. One leading critic was former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins.
“I’m not confident at all,” Perkins said on The Jump last month of the US ability to win another gold in men’s basketball. “And it’s no disrespect but you look at the players they have (Durant), (Green), they play cute. In a good way, right. They get buckets. They’re not guys that are gonna go down there and mix it up in the trenches.”
Durant and Green didn’t forget what Perkins and others said about Team USA in recent weeks.
“I had to talk to my sh*t real quick”
KD and Draymond letting the doubters have it! ?? pic.twitter.com/htDBi1A2vt
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) August 7, 2021
“Everybody who said we were going to take the L,” Durant said after scoring 29 points in the gold medal game against France. “They had some power rankings out. They had us fourth behind Slovenia. Come on, man. Talking about they’re catching up to us, like, are you serious? This skill is unmatched, you dig?”
“Kendrick Perkins, you talk a lot of sh*t, a lot of sh*t!” Green added. “Act like you’re American.”
Green continued his rant at their postgame press conference, when he was asked if the gold from Tokyo meant more than his 2016 medal from Rio.
“You turn on American sports talk TV, and you got guys like Kendrick Perkins, you know, doubting us. Somebody needs to teach these people some loyalty,” Green said. “How about you cheer for your country? But then when guys don’t play, ‘Oh, you need to go represent the country.’ And then you lose, hit a little bump in the road. And everybody’s, ‘Oh, everybody’s caught America.’ You are an American, too. Act like it.”
The gold medal for Team USA basketball was their 16th title in 19 Olympic appearances.
