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PARIS — The world may be catching up to the United States in men’s basketball but it hasn’t gotten all the way there yet.
The Americans defeated France here Saturday 98-87 to take the gold medal for the fifth consecutive time and 17th overall in the 20 Olympics in which they have participated.
The French fought and fought and fought. They played physical. They played confident. They wouldn’t fold or fade. Yet every time they would trim the American lead to six or eight, there was another U.S. star ready to make a play.
A Kevin Durant three. An Anthony Davis dunk. Another bit of LeBron James magic. And when France closed to within three with under three minutes to play … Steph Curry from deep, then another one and another one after that … and another one after that.
It was too much, even with Victor Wembanyama pouring in a game-high 26.
Throughout these Olympics coach Steve Kerr kept citing the Americans’ superior depth as a deciding factor.
“Every team has great players,” Kerr said. “We have more of them.”
It proved true in the final, the U.S. might was eventually able to wear the French down. Kerr was able to constantly throw NBA all-stars at the French or watch an offensive set find its way to the fourth option … who just happened to be Devin Booker wide open for a 3-pointer.
Anytime a lineup wasn’t working or a player hit even a brief dry spell, someone else rolled in. And the defensive intensity was constant, with near all-out effort on nearly every possession, forcing France into poor shooting early, especially from behind.
The Americans’ run to the gold medal was a particular triumph for some of the United States’ most venerable stars — LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, each in their mid-30s or older.
They may not be able to dominate an 82-game NBA season like they once did, but here in a six-game sprint each had critical moments to lead the way.
The 39-year-old James, with a graying beard and wearing golden sneakers for the gold medal game, delivered another all-around masterpiece. He repeatedly made the proper play, whether it was a pass, a screen or just barreling down the lane and daring someone to stop him en route to the rim. He finished with 14 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, a steal and a block.
Curry had 24, including 12 in the final three minutes to break every French run. Durant had 15, four assists and two steals.
One day another country is going to beat the United States again. Perhaps it will be France as Wembanyama continues to develop as an elite player.
He’s just 19 years old, but the 7-foot-4 Frenchman proved neither the competition nor the stage was too much for him. He was brilliant throughout, hitting threes, dishing assists and disrupting shot attempts. Mostly he never backed down against an onslaught of older, more established American stars.
His potential remains enormous, maybe even higher now than ever.
He wasn’t enough for France, though. Guerschon Yabusele continued his strong playing this tournament, but France didn’t have enough options on either end of the court to hold off the U.S.
The game was intense, with players pushing, shoving, arguing and delivering hard fouls. There were flexes, finger-pointing and a lot of jawing. At one point in the second quarter, Yabusele delivered a massive dunk over James to light up Bercy Arena.
This was heated.
The French entered the game as 16.5-point underdogs but were buoyed by strong play to get here and a loud home crowd that beat drums, chanted and sang throughout.
The game was a rematch of the 2020 Olympic finals in Tokyo, a game the U.S. won by five.
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