Kurtenbach: Kevin Durant is the best player in the world, and he has the gold medal to prove it

The United States men’s basketball team had to grind for its gold medal in Tokyo.

While the rest of the world has improved at our game, the U.S. struggled to find consistent cohesiveness at these Olympics.

But it didn’t matter. Team USA still won the tournament, because it had the best player in the world.

Kevin Durant makes basketball look easy, even in the most fraught moments of the sport’s biggest tournament And while the debate over who the top player in the game will never be fully put to rest, suffice it to say that Durant’s peerless performance on the world stage makes it so much easier to claim that he’s the planet’s best. (Yes, better than LeBron.)

Durant, the two-time NBA Finals MVP, capped his Olympic tournament masterpiece Friday night by leading the U.S. to an 87-82 victory over France in the gold-medal game.

Durant scored 29 points with a variety of mid-range jump shots, 3-pointers, and transition drives to the basket. The stout French, who had beaten the U.S. in the tournament opener, went blow-for-blow with the Americans everywhere else on the court. But they had no answer for Durant. He took what he wanted when he wanted it.

If these Olympics had taken place when they were scheduled — 2020, as all the signage still reads — Durant could not have played. But now two summers after he ruptured his Achilles tendon, he’s playing as if that injury — permanently etched in the minds of Warriors fans — never happened.

Durant might play for a different team in the NBA now. Warriors fans, you can feel about that any way you want.

But this summer, he was on our team again — Team USA. It was an unsullied joy to watch him work on our behalf.

Heaven knows the United States needed Durant in Tokyo.

“It’s not easy. It’s not like it used to be,” Warriors coach and Team USA assistant Steve Kerr told NBC Bay Area after the win. “[But] KD was amazing, just an incredible force offensively.”

“A lot of people said that the world has caught up to Team USA. They gave us a tough run, but this is still our game,” said Warriors and Team USA forward Draymond Green.

Thank Kevin.

“We went through some real adversity,” Durant told NBC after the win. “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.”

On top of those challenges, Team USA seemed to lack a cohesive offensive game-plan on the court. The Americans had more talent than their competitors — that’s certain — but the international game initially looked vexing to a squad full of NBA players.

Defensively, Team USA took a few games to adapt to the “no blood, no foul” nature of the FIBA rules. Offensively, the Americans’ lack of player and ball movement was largely responsible for the opening loss. They then overcompensated and became too unselfish with the ball in subsequent games, leading to less dire but nevertheless concerning scoring droughts.

But every team, even the best team in the world, has a pet play — a set they run when the going gets tough in a game.

For Team USA in Tokyo, that play was “give the ball to Kevin.”

For all the wonderful complexities of the sport, the difference between winning and losing is as simple as Superman on your side.

In this case, Superman was still wearing red, white, and blue. But who knew he was a lanky 7-footer with a tight dribble who can shoot over anyone and knock it down?

“They had some power rankings out, they had us fourth, behind Slovenia,” Durant said on an Instagram Live stream following the game. “[They’re] Talking about [the world] catching up to us. Like, are you serious?”

Yes, so long as the best player on the planet remains in a USA uniform, the rest of the world — for all of its advancements in this now-international game — will be playing for second place.

Because, as Durant said: “This skill is unmatched.”