Kevin Durant withdrew Thursday from the U.S. national team, the biggest loss yet for a weakening American squad that will go to Spain without the leading scorer on its last two gold medal winners. The NBAs MVP took part in the Americans training camp in Las Vegas last week, but then informed team officials that he wasnt going to continue. "Kevin reached out to Coach K and myself this afternoon and expressed that he is just physically and mentally drained from the NBA season and his attention to his many responsibilities, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said in a statement. "He tried to give it a go at our recent Las Vegas training camp but felt coming out of camp that he was not prepared to fulfil the commitment he made to the team." Durant was the MVP of the world championship in 2010, leading the Americans to that title for the first time since 1994. The Oklahoma City star also started on their gold medal-winning team in the 2012 Olympics and led the Americans with 19.5 points per game. His withdrawal comes less than a week after Indianas Paul George was lost to a broken right leg and follows previous withdrawals by All-Stars Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge, and NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. "This was an extremely difficult decision as I take great pride in representing our country," Durant said. "I know that I owe it to my USA Basketball teammates to be totally invested in the experience. After going through training camp with USAB, I realized I could not fulfil my responsibilities to the team from both a time and energy standpoint. "I need to take a step back and take some time away, both mentally and physically in order to prepare for the upcoming NBA season. I will be rooting for USAB and look forward to future opportunities with them." The U.S. roster is down to 15 players. The Americans resume practicing next Thursday in Chicago and have to finalize a 12-man roster before the World Cup of Basketball begins in Spain on Aug. 30. The Americans may still be the favourites, but are increasingly beatable with the losses of Durant and George, who were expected to fill the two starting forward spots. Durant carried a young U.S. to the title four years ago in Turkey with a series of sensational performances, averaging 22.8 points and shattering a number of team offensive records. He set the American mark with 38 points in a semifinal victory over Lithuania. At 6-foot-10, Durant is big enough to play as a power forward internationally, creating a matchup nightmare for opponents who cant defend him on the perimeter. He led the tournament in 3-pointers attempted and made in the 2010 worlds. He has averaged 19.9 points in 31 games in a U.S. jersey, shooting 48 per cent from 3-point range. But Colangelo said the Americans understood his need for time off. "Coach K and I fully support Kevin," he said. "His well-being is the most important thing to us and we support him taking the time to get ready for next season. Hes been part of the national team program for eight years and a big part of the success we have achieved, and we look forward to him being part of our success in the future as well. "We are excited about the opportunity ahead of us and to getting back to work in Chicago on Aug. 14," Colangelo added. "All 15 players are committed to the USA Basketball standard, which is to come together to win gold medals." Russell Westbrook Jersey .Boston beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 on Tuesday night and celebrated consecutive wins for the first time in more than a month. Andre Roberson Jersey .The Hamilton Tiger-Cat defensive back always has the required receipt. 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He was injured when he slid hard into the boards in the second period of a 2-1 shootout loss to Chicago on Friday.Chicago Black Hawks 6 Winnipeg Jets 3 – The Blackhawks now lead the season series three games to none and dropped the Winnipeg Jets back below the .500 mark at 10-11-3 with the win. The Jets home record is now 7-6-2. The Hawks dominated the first period, outshooting the Jets 12-2 and taking a 1-0 lead on a goal by Patrick Kane that extended his point streak to nine. It was a power play goal scored on Chicagos second power play of the period. The Hawks took a 2-0 lead at 3:03 of the second on a great shot from the slot by Brandon Saad, but 19 seconds later Andrew Ladd scored his sixth to make it a one goal game. Both those goals came with the teams playing four on four. 29 seconds later, with the Jets penalty over and the Winnipeg now on a power play, Keaton Ellerby scored his first as a Jet to tie the game. It was three goals in a span of 48 seconds. At 11:03 Jonathan Toews regained the lead for Chicago with his 11th of the year, but 2:27 later the Jets again tied the game with a five on three power play goal by Dustin Byfuglien, his sixth goal of the season. Byfuglien has now scored four of the Jets five power play goals over the past four games. His goal streak is at four as is his point streak (5-2-7). He has now scored six goals in the last six games. The Jets outshot Chicago 14-8 in the second. Winnipeg started the third with a couple of chances before the Hawks scored two 2:11 apart to put the game away. Marian Hossa with his 10th and Ben Smith with his third regained Chicagos two goal lead. Patrick Sharp ennded it with an empty net goal, his eighth while Toews ended with a four-point night, his fourth career four-point game.dddddddddddd So for the second straight game the Jets fought back to tie the game but could not get the lead. It was another two-point night for Bryan Little, he had one Monday vs Calgary, who now moves into third place in franchise scoring behind Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov. Ladd and Byfuglien also had two-point nights for the Jets. Ladd had six shots on goal as did Byfuglien, his second straight six-shot game. “It became evident we have a ways to go,” said coach Claude Noel. “We didnt have enough good players, enough strong players. We lost a lot of battles.” When asked if he was concerned about players not getting up for one of the top teams, “yes, that would be correct,” was his response. Captain Andrew Ladd said post game, “some guys showed up, some guys didnt.” Byfuglien had 28:20 in ice time to lead the team. Little had a tough first period in the face-off department; he got better as the game went on but still finished at 26%. Devin Setoguchi saw only one shift in the third, while for Evander Kane and Blake Wheeler its now 10 games without a goal. Jets close out the three-game home stand Saturday afternoon against Minnesota (TSN Jets, TSN 1290), and then leave on a six-game road trip, all games against Eastern Conference opponents. Saturday could see the return of Mark Stuart who has missed the past 10 games because of injury. ' ' '