Kevin Durant admitted he got a wake-up call from coach Mike Krzyzewski before leading his side to Olympic gold in the men’s final against Serbia in Rio.

USA landed the gold medal for the sixth time in seven Games since the ‘Dream Team’ era began and their third straight as they swatted aside Serbia 96-66.

With the likes of LeBron James and Steph Curry absent, Durant was the on-court leader for USA in Brazil.

The Golden State Warriors forward had come under scrutiny in the early stages as he failed to live up to expectations.

Durant felt he may have been guilty of trying too hard to bring team-mates into the game and he revealed that departing Team USA coach Krzyzewski had pulled him aside ahead of the gold medal match.

Durant had been a rock for USA at the 2010 World Cup and the London Games two years later and he said the coach had shown him some clips of the former, where he hit 33 points against Russia, 28 against Lithuania and 28 against Turkey, ahead of the clash with Serbia. “He told me, ‘I want to see that guy again,’ ” Durant said.

Durant obliged with a 30-point haul in the final. He now has 311 Olympics points and is second on USA Basketball’s all-time Olympic scoring list behind Carmelo Anthony (336 points).

“[I] just woke up I guess,” Durant said. “My team-mates were supporting me (and) cheering me on along the way. Everybody was encouraging me.

I just went out there and had fun with the game. “When I’m smiling and screaming and beating my chest and showing emotion, that’s when I’m lost in the game.

I got away from that a couple of games. “When the knockout round came…I just tried to go out there and be who I am.

Coaches told me to be me. I went out there and did that.” The Golden State Warriors are 1.70 to be crowned NBA champions in 2017.