Raptors HQ, a Toronto Raptors community

The big story of the first three games has been USA's offensive performance: while they continued to outshoot opponents by a large margin against France, they also got to the free throw line at the highest rate yet with a free throw rate of 44.44%. While Diana Taurasi put up an impressive line with 15 points, Sue Bird was arguably the statistical MVP with an efficient 9 points on 4-for-4 shooting and 3 steals.

Kevin Durant led Team USA in winning the FIBA World Championship for the first time since 1994. He led all scoring against Turkey with 28 points and was the obvious leader of Team USA. This FIBA USA team was known as the "B-Team" after the stars of the Olympic team did not return. No Kobe, no LeBron, no Wade…no problem. With Durant leading Team USA to a gold, people are now wondering, how good is Kevin Durant? ESPN has even been answering the question of whether he now becomes the best player in the world. My answer to this…Yes!

Off-topic from the Finals, but still very, VERY good news. With Kobe's sheer dominance over the course of the last to and a bit rounds of these Playoffs, it's easy to forget that he is still playing through serious injuries - amazing, really. This rest shall do him well, and few would have been surprised if he decided to lace it up for the Worlds regardless of his injuries, and thus punish his body even further. It certainly is news that his knee may require surgery (and what about his fingers?), but if he needs it, he should get it; and at least his knee wasn't drained of fluid earlier on in the Playoffs due to 'old age', as some journalists suggested while busy writing Kobe off. Hopefully, it's not a serious procedure.