After 12 years away, LeBron James made his Olympic comeback. This summer Kevin Durant made his first visit. And the two most experienced Olympians on this US squad opened the Paris Games with a nearly flawless performance as the US swept to a 110-84 triumph over Serbia on Sunday.

James added 21 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds as Durant came off the bench to strike his first eight shots on route to 23 points in less than 17 minutes. From the field, they were a combined 18 for 22; 8 of 9 for Durant, 9 of 13 for James; the US had no problems with the current World Cup silver medalists. Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry both added 11 for the US; Jrue Holiday scored 15, Devin Booker had 12.

After the Americans went to 6-0 this summer, 1-0 in the competition that counts, James remarked, “That’s the best game we’ve played so far.”Durant missed most of Team USA’s pre-Olympic training since he was healing a calf injury; Sunday was the first time he had set foot on the floor this summer. And he was the fifth sub off the US bench, practically the 10th man in what was only the fourth time in his last 1,320 games he did not start.

Once on the court, though, Durant was his usual self, raining shots from every direction.Although Durant was the top player on the court, Joel Embiid felt the fire from the French supporters whether or not he touched the floor.

At the Paris Games, the Sixers center decided to play for the US instead of France; the home audience made sure he remembered this. From pregame introductions to coming off the bench to touching the ball, Embiid faced boos all through the opening game.

French supporters held some hope for Embiid teaming with fellow NBA players Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert to represent the host nation. Though he never resided in France, the Sixers center got naturalized as citizen of 2022. He also had the choice to play for Cameroon, but early on the qualifying campaign he turned down that possibility. That departed the United States, where he also obtained a US passport for 2022.

Embiid has mentioned before that his son was born in Team USA and he wanted to play for them, but none of it mattered to the scattering of French supporters in the arena on Sunday.Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić led Serbia with 20 points while Bogdan Bogdanović scored 14.

Serbia coach Svetislav Pešić, who opposed the 1992 Olympic Dream Team from the US, said before the competition began current iteration of the American team is even better than that first NBA-star-filled lineup that rocked the globe at the Barcelona Games.

“Very, very important to start this tournament off right since every game is so big,” Curry stated following his Olympic debut. “You only have six of them if you want to reach the gold; clearly, Serbia is a fantastic team. They have a rather muscular defense and run a complex attack. In the first half KD was amazing and provided us a great push; our defense in the second half opened the game.