PARIS — It’s a game the French wanted. It’s a game the Americans probably expected. It’s a game the world most certainly will be watching.
The U.S. vs. France. In Paris. For basketball gold.
“Incredible,” U.S. forward Kevin Durant said of the storyline, one so good that only the boldest of script makers would dare to come up with such a final act. The showdown on Saturday night at the Paris Olympics is a rematch of the gold medal game from the Tokyo Games three years ago.
The U.S. is seeking a fifth consecutive gold medal and 17th overall; the French are seeking their first gold after settling for silver at the 1948, 2000 and 2020 Olympics, losing the final to the Americans in each of those tournaments.
“I mean, this is what everybody wants, right?” U.S. guard Devin Booker said. “It’s going to be a fun one.”
Added U.S. guard Stephen Curry: “I know it’s going to be a battle. That’s what it’s supposed to be if you’re trying to win a gold medal.”
Both teams ran the emotional gamut just to get to the final. France held off World Cup champion Germany 73-69 in one semifinal, partaking in a raucous on-court celebration afterward as fans roared and 7-foot-4 star Victor Wembanyama was nearly moved to tears. The U.S. trailed Serbia by 17 points in the second quarter, by 15 in the final seconds of the third quarter, then finished on a 34-15 run over the final 10:08 to win 95-91.
It was the first time in Olympic history that both semifinal games in men’s basketball were decided by four points or fewer.
“For us, all of us staff, players, it’s a dream to be able to play the finals in Paris,” France coach Vincent Collet said. “That’s what we said before the (semifinal). I asked the players, ‘Are you going to let the German team steal the finals from your hands?’ They were answering, ‘No, no way, no way, we die on the court, no way.’”
Looking back at the semis
Curry scored 36 points — the second most in U.S. Olympic men’s history — in the semifinal win for the U.S., Joel Embiid savored more booing from the French and scored 19 points, LeBron James had his second career Olympic triple-double (everyone else in Olympic men’s basketball history, combined, has two) and Durant made a huge jumper with 34 seconds left to help hold Serbia at bay.
For the Americans, the stars showed up. For the French, it was perhaps the lesser-known — at least to NBA fans — players who delivered most. Guerschon Yabusele scored 17 and Isaia Cordinier added 16 for France, while the big names like Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum shot a combined 9 for 32.
Didn’t matter. France still had enough.
“The will to improve, the will to sacrifice for your team, the will to do the next pass, the next play for your teammate, that was always there but we needed time,” Wembanyama said of how the French have improved throughout the tournament. “The intention was always good.”
And now the French get a home game against the biggest powerhouse nation the sport has ever known.
The France-U.S. history
In the first eight meetings between the U.S. and France in major international men’s competition (Olympics or the world championships, now known as the World Cup), the Americans went 8-0, with all those wins coming by at least 10 points and by an average of 25.9 points.
In the four games since — a three-point win for the U.S. in the 2016 Olympics, a 10-point France win in the 2019 World Cup that kept the Americans from medaling and sent them spiraling to a seventh-place flop, then two meetings that they split at the Olympics at Tokyo three years ago — the sides are 2-2.
Combined score of those contests: France 351, U.S. 342.
“I mean, we’ve been that good, guys. You know, we’ve been that good,” Fournier said. “We beat Team USA in 2019. We went to the gold final in Tokyo. We beat them in a group phase in Tokyo. So, we’ve been good.”
Both teams have been good. One will be good as gold.
The atmosphere in Paris
Embiid will hear booing again; he knew it was coming after choosing to play for the U.S. instead of France at these Olympics. But it’s not the booing in Paris that has captured U.S. coach Steve Kerr’s attention. It’s the cheering.
There’s a song — “Freed from Desire” by Gala — that has served as the unofficial crowd anthem of sorts during these Olympics. It will be one of Kerr’s lasting memories of his time in France. He and his assistant coaches have stood on the ramp leading to the court during the games immediately preceding theirs in Paris, and the song has gotten his attention over and over.
“They kept playing that European anthem that I can’t get out of my head,” Kerr said. “You guys all know the song, and everybody was just bouncing around, and I literally took my phone out and I videoed the crowd because it was so special just to see the energy and the enthusiasm and obviously it’ll be even louder Saturday night. And I can’t wait. I think it’ll be one of the most fun games I’ll ever be a part of.”
It’s what the Americans came for. It’s what the French hoped for. One game, for gold. That was the message James gave the U.S. in the huddle immediately after the final buzzer against Serbia, and that’ll be the message all the way up to tipoff on Saturday night.
“I told them that it’s good to be tested. It’s great to be tested,” James said. “And our ultimate goal, we’re one game away.”
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