The U.S. males’s basketball workforce gained its fifth consecutive gold medal. Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant led Staff USA to a 98-87 win over host France on Saturday to seize the gold medal on the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was a tense gold-medal recreation in entrance of a raucous pro-France crowd on the Bercy Area in Paris, however the U.S. by no means trailed within the second half, capped by Curry’s fascinating 3-pointer. Victor Wembanyama made life troublesome for Staff USA, scoring a team-high 26 factors of their most essential recreation thus far.
France minimize the U.S. result in three within the last minutes, however then Currie responded. The very best shooter in basketball historical past hit a staggering 4 three-pointers in two minutes to present Staff USA the respiratory room they wanted within the last seconds. Curry scored 24 factors on 8-of-12 three-pointers towards France, and scored 36 factors and hit 9 three-pointers towards Serbia.
That is the primary Olympic gold medal for Curry, who had not competed in an Olympics till this summer time.
“It is a take a look at. Clearly, France are at their residence courtroom and they are not going to surrender,” he informed NBC after the sport. “They threw every thing at us. … We acquired somewhat uncomfortable on the finish, turning the ball over, fast pictures … the tempo, the avalanche was coming. Fortunately, the opposite three have been in there. It has been an unbelievable very long time that I have been blessed to play basketball at a excessive stage, which ranks very excessive by way of pleasure and reduction whenever you get to the end line.
The U.S. workforce made 18 three-pointers within the gold medal recreation, taking pictures 50% from three-point vary. That three-point taking pictures helped the U.S. overcome 17 turnovers. Durant scored 15 factors towards France to win his fourth gold medal (changing into the primary males’s participant to take action), whereas James added 14 factors, 10 assists and 6 rebounds. .
Guerschon Yabusele scored 20 factors for France for Wembanyama, Consists of poster dunk towards James in season two. The French workforce carried out properly all through the sport, however solely shot 30% from three-point vary.
Earlier on Saturday, Serbia beat Germany to assert the bronze medal. Listed below are all the lads’s basketball medalists of the twenty first century.
This story was initially printed on cbs sports activities August 10, 2024.
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