PARIS: The United States won its fifth straight Olympic men's basketball title by beating France 98-87 on Saturday, extending its Olympic gold medal tally to 17.
In a rematch of the Tokyo Olympic final three years ago, a U.S. team loaded with NBA stars including LeBron James once again overwhelmed France despite a performance from NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembayama.
France cut the 14-point deficit to three with 3:04 left on a Wembanyama dunk, but Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry hit a 3-pointer, one of four he made with three minutes left, and the U.S. continued to attack until the end.
Stephen Curry celebrates with an American flag. (Reuters)
Curry finished with eight 3-pointers, including a rainbow over a leaping Wembanyama, and led the United States with 24 points.
“I'm just amazed by Curry,” James said of him. “When he's on your side, you just try to stop him and figure out a different way to get to the other end, but you keep looking for him, you keep giving him the ball.”
“I was just trying to calm us down,” Curry said of his late-game heroics.
“All we wanted to do was make a good shot,” Curry said. “It's been a while since we had a good possession.
“(Finally) the momentum is in our favor. At that point, your mind becomes empty. You don’t care about the setting or the script or anything. It’s just a shot.”
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker each added 15 points, and James had 14 points with six rebounds, 10 assists, a steal and a block.
For Durant, it was the fourth Olympic gold medal for an American male athlete. James won his third and Curry, a four-time NBA champion, won his first gold medal in his first Olympic appearance.
“It's a relief,” Curry said. “It wasn't easy, but damn, I'm excited. This is everything I wanted and more. So I'm excited.”
Wembanyama had his best offensive game of the Olympics, scoring 26 points. Guerschon Yabusele added 20 points.
France made just 9 of 30 3-pointers, and the U.S. was outscored 31-9 in fast-break scoring.
Both teams focused on defense during a tense first half that saw the lead change hands 10 times.
The Bercy Arena crowd went wild as Wembanyama dunked the ball to put France ahead 11-10.
Victor Wembanyama of France in action. (REUTERS)
The U.S. quickly took the lead again when Booker made a layup after receiving a pass behind James' back, and Jayson Tatum dunked the ball after a steal from James.
Trailing by five points at the end of the first quarter, France took a 25-24 lead on a dunk by Bilal Coulibaly, but the U.S. continued to capitalize on France's misses to turn the game around.
James cut through traffic for a layup, was fouled, swayed off the U.S. bench, then made the free throw to give the U.S. a 37-31 lead. The half ended with a score of 49-41.
The dream final was attended by many famous faces. French President Emmanuel Macron was at home, as was sprint star Shakari Richardson, a day after she won gold in the U.S. 4x100m relay.
James showed his intentions early, running onto the court in his Golden Shoes and opening the scoring with a dunk.
Curry, who scored 36 points in the comeback semifinal win over Serbia, started the second half with a 3-pointer early in the third quarter that gave the U.S. its largest lead of the game, 61-47.
France continued to press and trailed by just six points going into the fourth quarter, but ended up watching the Americans celebrate by waving their flags at the end of the game.
A dejected Wembanyama could only hug her teammates, but after donning the silver medal around her neck, she described the experience as “incredible” and said she would try to repay the favor in Los Angeles in 2028.
“I will challenge for the gold medal in four years,” he said.
On Saturday morning, Serbia won bronze medals with a 93-83 victory over reigning World Cup champions Germany.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic led Serbia with a triple-double of 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, but the team lost 95-91 to the United States in the semifinals.
