By Dave Ryan

 

USA’s Men retained the Olympic basketball crown but were made to fight all of the way by Spain before recording a 107-100 victory on Sunday.

 

Kevin Durant led the way with 30 points for the Americans, missing out on a double-double by a single rebound. LeBron James added 19 points, seven boards and four assists, and Kobe Bryant had 17 points for coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team.

 

Pau Gasol led the Spanish as they took silver for a second successive Olympic Games, finishing with 24 points, with eight rebounds and seven assists while Juan-Carlos Navarro added 21 points.

 

Earlier in the day a thrilling end to the game saw Russia take bronze at the North Greenwich Arena with an 81-77 victory.

 

The game went down to the wire before Andrei Kirilenko and company ended the dreams of the Argentinian “golden generation” who won gold eight years ago.

 

Alexey Shved top scored with 25 points for Russia while Kirilenko added 20 points and eight rebounds. Manu Ginobili led Argentina in what is likely to be his last game for them, finishing with 21 points, with Andres Nocioni adding 16 points and seven boards.