Team USA vs France recap

After two grueling semi-finals games, France and the United States met in the 2024 Gold Medal game. This was a rematch of the Tokyo Gold Medal game that saw the USA win 87-82 behind Kevin Durant’s 29 points. However, this version of the rematch had two very different rosters matching up against each other with another Gold Medal at stake. 

The USA made a slight change in their starting lineup; they replaced Jrue Holiday with Kevin Durant. Durant joined Lebron James, Joel Embiid, Steph Curry, and Devin Booker to round out the starters. They faced France and Victor Wembanyama, who is one of the rising stars in the NBA currently. The game started with a lot of energy and speed. Each team went back and forth with each team energizing the crowd after each bucket. It was a frenetic pace that favored the USA. France is a very experienced team. They’re older, but have a lot of young talent that has some games under their belt in international play. The initial identity for France was to get the ball to Victor Wembanyama. Joel Embiid started out on Wembanyama, but struggled against him. Wembanyama has a unique combination of length and fluidity. He’s 7’ 3”, but moves extremely well. I figured Kevin Durant would start on Wembanyama because he can move better than Embiid, but France didn’t have another player that the USA felt safe enough to put Embiid on. Wembanyama took advantage early on, capped by a hesitation at the three point line that froze Embiid and Wembanyama dunked it. Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, and Anthony Davis seemed to be the obvious candidates to guard Wembanyama the rest of the game. After the first 4 minutes the pace of the game slowed down. The USA was able to dig deep on defense and halt the French offense. France isn’t as good a shooting team as Serbia so the USA wasn’t hurt by going under on screens. However, France hurts teams with their cross screens and rip screens for their guards and bigs. A lot of what France wants to do is get downhill and put pressure on the rim. They have capable shooters, but overall getting the ball in the paint is what they want to achieve first. Because of this, France's games are often very low scoring as they don’t get out in transition as much as other international teams. This could provide some stress to the United States as forcing quick shots and turnovers aids their fast break offense. The frantic beginning of the game was met with stalemate defense that saw the USA take a 20-15 lead after Anthony Edwards hit a three over his NBA teammate Rudy Gobert. France kept the United State’s on their toes on offense. The Second unit of Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo was slowed down a little bit due to the French zone defense.

The second quarter started out very well for France; they were able to go on a quick 8-0 run to take a lead 25-24 and were able to get their crowd into the game. The USA then took a timeout. The USA traditionally has been very good after timeouts as they score pretty frequently. Assistant coaches Ty Lue, and Erik Spoelstra are extremely creative offensive minds and have a multitude of out of timeouts plays that work very well. However, France was able to force a shot clock violation and it felt like it signaled to everyone watching that the USA was in for a dog fight. After this the USA was able to bounce back and take control. The defensive intensity from Anthony Edwards was able to force some turnovers and the USA took back control of the game. Anthony Davis’s activity in the paint both on offense and defense was too much for France throughout the entire game. Back-to-back threes from Devin Booker and Steph Curry saw the USA stretch out their lead to 8 points. Joel Embiid did not check into the second quarter of the game which was not surprising considering two things. First, how well Anthony Davis was playing and second the matchup with Victor Wembanyama being an issue. France was still able to keep attached to the United States though. With the home crowd in their favor they were able to bounce back and keep the USA advantage to only 8 points going into halftime. Devin Booker made a lot of timely shots and Anthony Edwards helped pace the second unit for the USA throughout the second quarter. Lebron James made some incredible passes and it felt like the boost from Edwards, Booker, and Davis gave the USA the much needed help so James, Durant, and Curry could take them home in the second half. The USA took a 49-41 lead into the break.

The Third quarter started very fast for the USA; they were able to get out in transition and force a lot of French turnovers early on in the period. Joel Embiid started the second half after not playing the entire second quarter. Steve Kerr was willing to give him a chance to get going after he proved himself late in the semi-final game against Serbia. However, it didn’t go well and Davis quickly checked in. The difference for France in the third quarter was Rudy Gobert. He didn’t play a lot in the first half, but he was impactful in the third quarter. He didn’t show it through scoring, but his screen setting caused issues for the USA. The ball handler as able to get open from some of his screens and the USA didn’t know whether to switch it or do something else with his screens, However, the USA still managed to play through this and Curry hit a three to bring the USA lead to 14. France responded well as they did all game long and eventually forced the USA into some turnovers. The USA had 7 third quarter turnovers and this helped France climb back into the game. I would’ve liked to see the USA have Lebron running the offense a little bit more. Lebron always showed up when it felt like the USA needed to calm down on offense. The oldest player on the team, who was in his fourth Olympics, had been the much needed veteran presence late in the game for the USA. Once France was able to come within striking distance Anthony Davis had his best sequence of the game. He gained the offensive rebound and put it in for 2 points. On the next defensive possession he blocked a shot and helped the USA withstand the French counterpunch. The USA held a 70-61 lead, but France was able to finish the third quarter with some momentum. A miscommunication at the end of the period between Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards led to a French steal and basket to cut the USA lead to 6 and end the third quarter with the USA leading 72-66. This steal was a huge momentum swing because instead of the USA at worst being up 8 they let France back into the game. France also started the fourth quarter with the ball and could have potentially cut the USA to 3 or 4. 

An early stop and Kevin Durant three saw the USA climb out to a 9 point lead early in the quarter. It felt like a big change in momentum as the French crowd was loud and brought a lot of energy for the home team. However, the three pointer quieted them and helped the USA withstand another French scoring run. Jrue Holiday hit another big three and it seemed like the game was wrapped up as the French started fading, but the USA was very stagnant on offense when they didn’t need to be. I like Lebron controlling the offense, but felt like too many people were watching him and not moving like they were earlier in the game. This helped France jump back into the game as Victor Wembanyama led a furious comeback to pull within 3. At this point the USA held an 82-79 lead, but that’s when Steph Curry salted away the game. Similar to how Kevin Durant had a scoring explosion in the group stage game against Serbia, Curry had his late in this game. After scoring only 28 total points and shooting 25% from three for the first 4 games of the summer Olympics, Steph Curry carried the United States to the end of the game. All eyes were on him for the next 2 minutes. The USA went to a play that’s been their bread and butter the entire tournament, a Lebron and Steph pick and roll. No team the entire tournament knew what to do with this action and it always led to good things for the USA. As Curry set the screen for Lebron, his defender helped on Lebron too much and wasn’t able to recover quick enough. Lebron then flicked a behind the back pass to Curry. Curry then jabbed left and shook the defender off of him and gained enough space to bury the three point shot. This gave the USA an 85-79 lead. After trading buckets. Curry came down and hit a step back, pump fake three point shot to push the lead to 9. Another France three saw them pull within 6, however the next possession proved to be no different then previous ones for the USA. France decided to double Curry near half court. Curry then flicked a pass to Durant, who then passed it to Booker. Booker drove baseline and skipped it back to the top of the key to a wide open Steph Curry. Curry pumped faked and then hit a deep three that energized the crowd and forced France to call a timeout. It felt like the game was put away, but a Victor Wembanyama three pointer when in after a miscommunication from the USA on the next possession. France only trailed by 6 and needed to get a stop on defense. Curry, after dribbling the shot clock down, was doubled team twice after France forced him to pass the ball to Durant. After receiving the pass from Durant, Curry went to work. He took one dribble and then went behind his back. After the behind the back dribble a second defender from France approached Curry. Seemingly unbothered, Curry stepped back and launched a three pointer with two French defenders on him. The shot went in and it seemingly sealed the gold medal for the United States. Another stop and Booker dunk lead the USA to a 98-87 win over the host country. Curry put the United States on his back for the last 3 minutes of the game. It was what superstars do and he’s the only player in the world that could make 4 consecutive three pointers with that degree of difficulty. The win clinched a fifth consecutive gold medal for USA Men’s Basketball and gave Kevin Durant 4 gold medals, making him the winningest Olympian in Team USA Men’s Basketball history. 

Curry led all scorers with 24 points on 8 three pointers made. He made 17 threes in the last two games for the United States. Lebron James was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament after being the United States best player throughout the entire summer. The win also completed the commitment James and Curry made to team USA one year ago to play for them at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was a special journey and possibly the last time we will see Kevin Durant, Lebron James, and Steph Curry on the same court together. If you weren’t able to watch the game, I’d suggest watching some highlights. The pure joy and passion the USA played with was unmatched from previous team’s. The pure talent on the roster will probably never be matched with at least 10 or 11 future hall of famers. It was a euphoric experience being able to see this team play some unbelievable games throughout the summer and something I won’t forget. Unfortunately, that ends the Team USA summer, but bringing home a gold medal is a wonderful prize.