The United States men’s basketball team are Olympic gold medalists once again. Thanks to one of the best stretches of basketball of Steph Curry‘s career to carry the team home down the stretch, the U.S. were able to walk into a hostile environment in Paris and take down a French team that left it all on the floor, 98-87, in a game worthy of the occasion.
The opening quarter of action was as good as everyone hoped. While the Americans were able to take an early lead and play the sort of egalitarian basketball that Steve Kerr preaches — they had seven assists on eight made baskets in the opening 10 minutes — their lead was only 20-15 after one.
This was because of Victor Wembanyama, who was able to respond to the raucous arena filled with French fans by imposing his will on the game with seven points and two rebounds in the opening frame. And with the crowd behind them, France came out at the start of the second quarter and took it right to the American bench, as a 10-4 run at the beginning of the period put them back ahead.
The starters coming back in, combined with Wembanyama hitting the bench, led to the U.S. opening its lead right back up. With LeBron James leading the charge and dictating the tempo of the game, the United States was able to get its lead up in the first half up to as many as 10 points, and if not for a huge first half by former Boston Celtics forward Guerschon Yabusele — who has been excellent for the French all tournament — the lead could have been much bigger than eight points heading into the locker room.
Regardless, the United States took a 49-41 lead into the half, with Devin Booker’s 13 points leading the team. James had seven, while both Curry and Kevin Durant had six, and after a difficult opening five minutes or so, Kerr made the decision to put Joel Embiid on the bench for the remainder of the half and ride with Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo as his big men. For France, Yabusele’s 15 points led all scorers, while Wembanyama had 13 with five rebounds.
While the Americans came out of the break and got their lead up to as many as 14 points in the early portion of the third, France was able to chip away in the closing stages of the quarter, particularly when James and Curry went to the bench. Whether it was the U.S. turning it over seven times, Wembanyama imposing himself, or either half of the Evan Fournier and Nando de Colo duo getting hot, France was slowly but surely able to get the crowd back into the game. And even though the United States was able to take a 72-66 lead into the fourth, the door was cracked open, and the French had a shot to pick up the biggest win in their basketball history.
The U.S. consistently kept France at arm’s length for much of the fourth, and even got their lead up to as many as 10 points. But as the quarter went on, the mistakes started to pile up — whether it was turnovers or bad fouls, the United States struggled to put France away, and the French made them pay by taking advantage. They chipped away slowly, and with just over three minutes remaining, a putback dunk by Wembanyama cut the lead to one possession, an 82-79 game that was right there for the taking.
But Curry had other ideas. He came down the floor on the ensuing possession and drilled a triple from well behind the three-point line, and misses by Wembanyama and Yabusele on France’s next time down the floor got cleaned up by Durant, who was fouled, knocked down both free throws, and opened Team USA’s lead back up to nine points.
And then Curry just lost his mind. He hit three threes over the final two minutes of the game, each one seemingly more insane than the next, and each one hammering home that the United States was going to win a gold medal. France tried as they might, but could not overcome Curry’s barrage, and as the final horn sounded, the crowd in Paris was stunned as the Americans celebrated on their home floor.
Curry scored 24 points to lead the U.S., and shot 8-for-12 from behind the three-point line. Durant and Booker both scored 15, while James had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. For France, Wembanyama stuffed the stat sheet with 26 points and seven rebounds, while Yabusele went for 20.