Team USA Men’s Basketball Team Defeats France for Gold at Paris Olympics
The U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team won a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal on Saturday night at Bercy Arena, besting France 98-87 in front of a raucous hometown crowd. The game was a rematch of the Tokyo gold medal game three years ago, and once again, France couldn’t match the American firepower, which is chock-full of future hoops Hall of Famers.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Stephen Curry led a balanced U.S. attack with 24 points, including four crucial 3-pointers late in the game. He simply took over the game. Curry finished with 8-threes on the night, and relished every moment of destroying France’s upset dreams.
Team USA continued its run of world dominance on the men’s side, ever since the team lost two preliminary round games at the Athens Olympics—including a blowout loss to Puerto Rico—and fall in the semis to Argentina. The U.S. won a bronze medal in those Games, then revamped the program, getting the country’s best players to commit to playing global competitions regularly. This is LeBron James’ third Olympic gold medal. Kevin Durant, the all-time leading Olympic scorer in U.S. history, now has four. That’s an all-time Olympic record for a men’s player.
This Olympic gold, however, is a first for Stephen Curry, the two-time NBA MVP and four-time NBA champion who revolutionized basketball with his long-range shooting stroke. Curry was crucial to the team’s thrilling 95-91 comeback victory against Serbia, shooting 9-for-14 from long range Thursday, and making two free throws with 8 seconds left to seal the victory.
“I understood the moment and the stakes and the uncomfortable nature of being down for so much of the game and having, you know, 10 minutes to come back,” Curry said after that game.
“I came into this experience thinking that this would be my one and only time to play in the Olympics and experience the stage,” said Curry. “So that was part of my sense of relief and joy. I don’t want to be on the first team since ‘04 that didn’t make it to the gold medal game and get a gold medal. My one opportunity is here. That stuff, you’re thinking about while you’re still just trying to have fun playing the game that you know.”
All Olympic tournament long, the U.S. team brought into a next-man-up mentality, whether leaning on Durant to make 8 straight shots against Serbia in the opening game, or Curry to help bail the U.S. out of the semis with his flurry, after struggling to shoot with his normal effectiveness for most of his time in France. James recorded a triple-double—16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists—against Serbia in the semi.
“There’s pressure,” said Curry. “Whoever the 12-man group was, we’re all here to win. We’re all giving up a lot of time over our summers. We understand the pride of representing your country. We understand the expectations. So there’s a lot of like-mindedness there that, honestly, we don’t even have to speak about.”
Saturday’s win also grants USA’s Joel Embiid, the 2023 NBA MVP, a measure of satisfaction. During these Games Embiid, who was born in Cameroon but holds citizenship in the U.S. and France, has been heckled by French fans because of decision to play for the U.S. rather than the host country. Nothing changed on Saturday: the Bercy Arena fans were delighted when young French phenom Victor Wembenyama, for example, stripped the ball from Embiid as he tried to shoot in the first quarter.
“They’re gonna boo me. I’m gonna go back at them and tell them to suck it,” said Embiid before Saturday’s gold medal game.
On Friday, Curry was asked about his takeaway from the comeback that enabled Team USA to play for, and ultimately win, the Olympic title. “The whole fourth quarter was unreal,” said Curry. “I’m sure it’ll hopefully when we have a medal around our neck, gold, tomorrow you’ll be able to reminisce on all of it.”
Let the memories begin.