Kevin Durant Leads the U.S. to a World Championship

There was no LeBron James; no Kobe Bryant; no Dwyane Wade; no Chris Paul...  and there was no problem. Kevin Durant and a team of NBA professionals won the basketball FIBA world championships in Turkey. It was the first world championship for the United States since 1994. The American team, coached by Mike Krzyzewski from Duke, won eight straight games en route to the world championship gold.

Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder lead the American team to a 81 - 64 victory over Turkey in the final game. Durant scored 28 points and collected 5 rebounds. He received some scoring support from Russell Westbrook, also from the Oklahoma City Thunder, with 13 points and 6 rebounds. This win qualifies the U.S. team for the 2012 Olympics in London:

"...   With all of 2008 Redeem team from Beijing unavailable Durant admitted that proving they could win without them was a big factor: "That was motivation for us all. We worked that much harder to prove people wrong." 

"Everybody, coaches, guys behind the scenes and everyone pushed us to make sure that we played as one group. Words can't describe my feelings now. Sixteen years without winning this tournament. I have been four years in this programme and I feel like a veteran now. There is only one current American NBA player that has won this tournament in the NBA - Shaquille O'Neal - so that's pretty special."

This championship marks the tournament where Durant and Westbrook became international basketball stars. In the future, when Durant and Westbrook may win a professional championship in the NBA, this series of eight games may be significant. It will be cited as the point in their career arcs where these two franchise players for the Oklahoma City Thunder learned the essentials of winning a championship.