By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
PARIS, France – In a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics final, the opponents were the same, the stakes similar, and the result pretty much the same.
Three years ago, the score was 87-82 for the US over France and this time the win, 98-87, was even bigger and maybe sweeter, considering that the game was played in Paris.
While there’s no doubt that Team USA has to play, the competition still has some work to do in order to catch up.
Steph Curry scored 24 points, including four triples in crunch time. Besides ending up with 8/12 from beyond the arc, he dished out five assists.
Devin Booker with 13 points in the first half set the tone early, Kevin Durant added 15 points, becoming the first male basketball player with four gold medals, and LeBron James added 14 points, six rebounds, and ten assists.
The duo of Guerschon Yabusele (20 p.) and Victor Wembanyama (26 p.) made things happen for France, but couldn’t get a historic win in Paris.
USA led from the get-go
Wembanyama started hot, scoring seven points in less than three minutes of action, while Devin Booker also scored seven from the other side in five minutes.
The surprise was that Jayson Tatum entered the court and with a breakaway dunk he made the score 14-11 with four minutes left in the first period. After two threes by Anthony Edwards, the quarter ended with the US up by five (20-15).
Anthony Davis with a block, a layup, and a dunk pushed the lead to seven (24-17) to open the second period.
The answer was an 8-0 run with two threes by Matthew Strazel and Yabusele and then a dunk in transition by Bilal Coulibaly as France got the lead back (25-24) forcing a timeout by Team USA.
It was time for another run, completed with a three by Curry that gave to the US a 32-27 advantage. The lead went up to seven (40-33) after a three by Kevin Durant, the shots kept falling and the USA created a 10-point cushion (46-36).
Jrue Holiday made one more three, but Yabusele at the buzzer trimmed the US lead to nine (49-41) and scored in total 15-first half points, including a dunk over LeBron James.
A fight until the end
Thanks to a three by Curry, the lead went up to 14 points (61-47) for the first time.
The French didn’t give up and after a three by Wemby and one by Evan Fournier, they cut the lead to six (65-59), and thanks to a layup by Nando De Colo at the buzzer the score entering the last period was 72-66.
Still, after a three by Jrue Holiday, the US cushion was back to 11 points (80-69) with seven minutes left until the game.
The French didn’t surrender. With just under three minutes on the clock, they reduced the deficit to three points. Curry taking over and connecting clutch triples restored a safe advantage.
Photo credit: FIBA