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Team USA will face off with France in the men’s basketball gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics after
their respective wins in Thursday’s semifinals at Saitama Super Arena
in Japan.
The United States overcame an early
15-point deficit to score a comfortable 97-78 win over Australia.
Kevin Durant led the charge with 23 points and nine rebounds, while
Devin Booker chipped in 20 points for the Americans, who will be
looking for their fourth straight Olympic title Saturday.
France narrowly escaped a serious
challenge from Luka Doncic and Slovenia as Nicolas Batum made a
game-saving block in the final seconds to preserve a 90-89 victory.
Nando de Colo (25 points) and Evan Fournier (23) paced the French offense
in the semifinal thriller.
Gold-Medal Game Information
Where:
Saitama Super Arena in Japan
Tokyo Time: Saturday, Aug. 7, at
11:30 a.m. JST
U.S. Time: Friday, Aug. 6, at
10:30 p.m. ET
Watch: Peacock or NBC Olympics
Championship Game
Preview
Alarm bells started to sound after Team
USA dropped its Olympic opener against France following a lackluster run
of exhibition games that included losses to Nigeria and Australia.
Gregg Popovich’s group has looked
closer to the dominant form that’s expected from the U.S. since that
Group A loss to France, winning four straight games by an average of
30.5 points to reach the final.
“There were a lot of guys on this
team that had straight faces and were ready to play when we were down
15—strong faces is what Pop said,” Durant told
reporters about the semifinal comeback. “They came out and hit
us with a nice haymaker, and we were able to get back up and get that
lead back.”
Although Durant is the center of
attention, it’s taken a complete team effort for the Americans to
turn around their fortunes. That was on display once again Thursday
as four players (Durant, Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton)
reached double figures in scoring and two others (Jayson Tatum and
Zach LaVine) scored nine points.
USA Basketball @usabasketball
Zach’s bounce is just ???????????????????????????????????? ????<br><br>???????? <a href=”https://twitter.com/ZachLaVine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@ZachLaVine</a> x <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Tokyo2020</a> <a href=”https://t.co/ISo59sX2kr”>pic.twitter.com/ISo59sX2kr</a>
The United States is likely to need a
similar well-rounded performance to win gold, especially since France
was able to hold KD to 10 points in the teams’ prior meeting in the
Games.
Another key will be protecting the
basketball. The U.S. pulled away from Australia despite a mediocre
19-16 assist-to-turnover ratio. It’ll likely look to keep that turnover figure below 10 in the final after giving the ball away 12 times against France the first time around.
Meanwhile, France carried a six-point
lead in the fourth quarter of its semifinal against Slovenia, but
Doncic and Co. fought back and had the ball in their hands with a
chance to win.
Doncic was doubled as he attempted to
drive the lane, so he dished to Klemen Prepelic, who appeared to have
a clean lane to the hoop for the go-ahead layup. Batum had other
ideas as he saved the game for Les Bleus:
#TokyoOlympics @NBCOlympics
BATUM.<br>BLOCK.<br>BUZZER.<br>BALLGAME.<br><br>FRANCE advances to play the United States for men’s basketball gold! <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#TokyoOlympics</a> <a href=”https://t.co/4DEDosc94i”>pic.twitter.com/4DEDosc94i</a>
France heads into the rematch with the
U.S. undefeated in the tournament. Beating the Americans for a second
time will be its toughest test, and a win would give the country its
first Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball. It won silver in 1948
and 2000.
De Colo, Fournier and Timothe
Luwawu-Cabarrot have given the French squad a lot of offensive
firepower in the backcourt and on the wing, but center Rudy Gobert
figures to play a critical role against a U.S. team with a limited number of impact players in the post.
Gobert (7’1”), who tallied nine
points, 16 rebounds and four blocks against Slovenia, will probably
match up with Bam Adebayo (6’9”) initially, but his presence could
force the Americans to use JaVale McGee (7’0”) more frequently for
the defensive boost, which could slow the U.S. offense.
If Gobert can dominate on the low block,
France will have a real shot at another upset in the gold-medal game.
Team USA’s recent resurgence makes it
the favorite heading into the final, though.
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