Durant, Team USA keep rolling to the gold medal

ISTANBUL - The so-called "B Team" turned out to be the best team in the world.

The United States won its first world championship since 1994 Sunday, beating Turkey, 81-64, behind another sensational performance from tournament MVP Kevin Durant.

Durant had 28 points, setting a record along the way for most in the tournament by a U.S. player. He left the court with 42 seconds left and shared a long hug with coach Mike Krzyzewski, who finally won the world title after his previous two attempts ended with bronze medals.

"Our only option was to come out here and get a gold, and it feels really good to bring this back home to the States," Durant said.

Lamar Odom had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Americans, who won gold in the worlds for the fourth time, doing so with a team that was no sure thing after coming to Turkey without the superstars from its Olympic gold-medal team. With Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Co. sitting home, this group was called a "B Team," which the players were aware of and used as motivation.

Team USA was left with a young, undersized team, featuring six players 22 or younger and only one true center in Tyson Chandler, who became a backup when forward Odom was installed as the starter.

Team USA came through where many of its bigger-name predecessors couldn't four years ago in Japan in the world championship.

Durant, who scored 33 and a U.S.-record 38 points in the previous two games, again took care of the offense Sunday, qualifying the team for the 2012 Olympics. The NBA scoring champion made seven three-pointers against Turkey, often pulling up from places that were simply too far away for its zone to reach.

Durant scored 20 in the first half, then hit consecutive three-pointers early in the third quarter, yelling at Turkish fans sitting courtside and pounding his chest after the second, as the United States quickly extended a 10-point halftime lead.

Hedo Turkoglu of the Phoenix Suns scored 16 points for the Turks, who were bidding for their first title and were boosted by huge crowd support, with fans in red filling most of the 15,000-seat Sinan Erdem Dome. The whistling was so loud when U.S. players were introduced that it was hard to make out the names. There were more whistles and boos every time the Americans had the ball in the early going, and the building was at its loudest when Turkoglu made consecutive threes to give Turkey its first lead at 15-14 with 4:07 remaining in the first quarter.

Durant scored 11 points in the quarter to help the Americans to a 22-17 advantage.

Unable to crack Turkey's zone, the U.S. kept going smaller to get more shooting on the floor, at one point playing Durant and Rudy Gay with guards Eric Gordon, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook.

The U.S. held Turkey to one basket in the first six minutes of the second quarter, extending the lead to 10 on a three-pointer by Durant. The Americans were ahead 42-32 at halftime.

The Turks were a step slow and consistently beaten on the boards, perhaps drained from their 83-82 victory over Serbia in Saturday's late game.

"Nobody was expecting to be this far," Turkoglu said. "So I'm really happy, really proud."