USA basketball struck gold at the Olympics with a 98-87 win over France, the host country, in the gold medal game. After not medaling in the FIBA World Cup last summer, “The Avengers” as this team is being called, showcased the best talent available to the U.S. Superstars such as Lebron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant all led the charge for a fifth straight gold medal at the Olympic Games. With the influx of talent around the world, it’s no longer a cakewalk to the gold as it’s been in the past for the United States. At the FIBA World Cup last summer, Germany won the tournament, with the U.S. losing the third place game to Canada in overtime. This tournament saw the aforementioned superstars opt-in to the international team to “avenge” that World Cup disappointment and restore the dominance of U.S. basketball in the world.
Prior to the Olympics, the U.S. faced off against other countries who would be participating in the Olympics, holding their first game against Canada in Las Vegas. The U.S. appeared strong in their first endeavors with chemistry seeming high, causing a convincing 86-72 win over team Canada. Canada features prominent NBA players with Shai Gilgious-Alexander leading the team after his All-NBA first team season with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Jamal Murray and RJ Barrett headlined the supporting cast for the Canadian squad, yet the U.S. made quick work of them during this exhibition game. After two more convincing wins over Australia and Serbia respectively, the U.S.’ freight train of dominance came to a halt against South Sudan. A rather unexpected close game, with the South Sudanese team being found only 13 years ago. This team featured some past NBA and G-League players who marched up with the USA well. The U.S. didn’t have much going for them on offense during most of the game, relying on Lebron James to close out this game on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. On the other side of the ball, Carlik Jones for South Sudan came to play putting up a triple-double with 14-11-11 (points, rebounds and assists). Jones, a current G-leaguer on the Windy City Bulls, showed out and should be expecting calls from NBA organizations after this performance and throughout the Olympics. Along with that, South Sudan shot the three-ball at an efficient clip going 14-33 (42%) with the U.S. shooting a measly 7-28 (25%) on the night. Even with this, the Americans squeaked out a win by a single point, puzzling many fans and critics on how good this team could actually be. Nevertheless, a win is a win and after another somewhat close call against Germany, it was time for olympic pool play.
All three group stage games saw convincing wins from the U.S. with a big first game from the King, Lebron James, who led the way with 19-7-9 against a very competent Serbia team. The difference maker in this game was the 55% three-point-percentage put up by the U.S. and the 20 points put forth by Kevin Durant. Who came off the bench, to provide a fire for the second unit while the starters rested. Another noteworthy point from this game was the zero minutes of playing time given to Boston Celtics star, Jayson Tatum. NBA and basketball fans were up in arms about the no playing time given to Tatum which could’ve led to coach Steve Kerr starting Tatum in the subsequent game against a familiar opponent, South Sudan. This time around, it became a much more convincing win for the U.S. with Bam Adebayo providing 18 points with seven rebounds off the bench. With the steller play of Bam, Joel Embiid, didn’t see the court in this game causing fans to call out the coaching of Steve Kerr once more for leaving a superstar player on the bench. Even with that, Bam soaked up all of the 20 minutes he played, along with an efficient 10 points from Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker. Devin Booker received the keys to the number one option with the Suns and was seen as the star of the team and not necessarily a role player per se. A twitter account tweeted that USA basketball needed stars who could play roles such as defending and spot up shooters as opposed to needing the ball in their hands at all times to make something happen. Booker, now infamously replied to the tweet with “I’ll do it,” and in this game especially Booker put proof to his claim. Devin Booker was an unsung hero to this team providing just what the U.S. needed along with guys like Jrue Holiday and Derrick White. After another convincing win over Puerto Rico, this time led by Anthony Edwards with 26 points, the U.S. was off to a meeting with Brazil in the Knockouts. The Americans, once again dispatched the Brazilians with not too much problem with Lebron James and Joel Embiid providing solid statlines in the win. This set up a third meeting between the USA and Serbia during these international games.
Only the U.S. had a problem. His name was Nikola Jokic. Jokic, coming off a third NBA MVP, carried this Serbian team to this point in the knockouts with a 20-point contribution from Bogdan Bogdanovic. This Serbian surge caused a 17-point deficit in the late stages of the third quarter. It remained a double-digit lead in the fourth too until a man who hadn’t had a great tournament lit the gym on fire. Steph Curry played his best game to this point and helped cut the lead down to single digits when Joel Embiid, on back-to-back possessions, garnered five straight points working on Jokic to bring the game down to a single basket. With four minutes remaining, after a great contest from Devin Booker, a contested three missed badly from Vasilije Micic, leading to a strong left-handed layup from James to tie the game. Coming out from a Serbian timeout, Serbia scored only for Steph Curry to come down and drain a three then an onslaught of USA offense overwhelmed Serbia leading to a 95-91 come-from-behind win. With this result, France awaited the final.
From the first five minutes of this game, it became apparent this game possessed the making of an all-time battle. France followed their young starlit Victor Wembanyama to the final with an all-around solid team filled with NBA talent. On this night, other than Wemby, they wouldn’t be the focus as Guerschon Yabusele stole the spotlight with an incredible 20-point performance. Yabusele currently plays on Real Madrid’s basketball team after a short stint in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, but after his run in the Olympics you’d be foolish as a GM not to give him a call for his services. On the USA’s side, the offense stayed stagnant for the better part of the second half as France kept slowly dissolving the 10-point cushion the U.S. set for themselves at halftime. Coming down the stretch in the fourth quarter, Steve Kerr essentially ran a seven-man rotation–one I was quite fond of, as it varied different looks and abilities for the team. Once again, I loved the production from Bam and Anthony Davis down low as Davis’ post defense vs Wemby and Rudy Gobert were a major factor in the win. Devin Booker and Jrue Holiday played superbly with clutch shots being hit and great defense when needed. Accompany that with Lebron James and Kevin Durant’s leading of the team where King James played great again and the U.S. seemed to be able to hold off the French down the stretch. And they were. But it wasn’t predominantly any of these people in the last four minutes of the game.
It was Wardell Stephen Curry. Curry strung three straight three-pointers together further cementing himself as the greatest shooter of all time. The first came with 1:52 left in the game where Curry stepped back on Nic Batum, getting himself open to drain his sixth three to that point in the game. Batum answered right back with a three of his own, but the next time down the floor, with time winding down on the shot clock, Devin Booker drove by the baseline, eventually finding Curry at the top of the key where he let another three-pointer go. Splash. France, ever the pesky team, came back with another three of their own with a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. 93-87 game. Steph could put the dagger in. He dribbled the ball up the court. A slip screen from Durant left him open where Curry found him at the top of the key. Curry is being guarded by Yabusele and Batum, yet he still gets himself free. He takes a dribble towards the middle where he’s immediately stopped by Evan Fournier and Batum. Seven seconds remain on the shot clock. Curry takes a dribble to the right where he unloads a long-distance three over two people from 26 feet out. Bang. Dagger. Curry gestures “night night,” to the crowd as he solidifies the inevitable for this US team. Gold.
