PARIS — The 2024 Olympic Gamesmen’s basketball tournament ends with the US takes on host France in a confrontation at the Bercy Arena.
Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant And LeBron James will lead the team in the fight for a fifth consecutive gold medal and 17th place in the overall standings.
France will be ‘home’ for both gold medal basketball games – the men’s game on Saturday night and the women’s game on Sunday afternoon, both times against the USA.
Home teams are 5-2 tonight in the battle for basketball gold on home soil.
The U.S. men’s and women’s teams each won in 1984 and 1996, winning the titles in Los Angeles and Atlanta. The Soviet Union women’s team won in Moscow in 1980.
The Australian women lost to the US in Sydney in 2000 and the Japanese women also lost to the US at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Jrue Holiday was on the U.S. men’s basketball team that won gold in Tokyo three years ago. He’ll soon have a shot at a second basketball gold.
That would put him in joint first place in his household.
Holiday’s wife is Lauren Cheney Holiday, a two-time U.S. women’s soccer gold medalist. She won gold in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.
Jrue Holiday will win a second Olympic medal, gold or silver, on Saturday night in Paris. But he needs gold to equal his wife’s record.
“First of all, it means I get to sit at the table with my wife, so that would be cool,” Jrue Holiday said. “It’s just an honor and a blessing. I was there for her in 2012 to watch her compete, and now that she’s here for this one, it’s awesome to be able to share it with my family.”
If history teaches us anything, the men’s basketball gold medal battle between the US and France won’t be a very exciting one.
There have been only two men’s Olympic basketball finals in history that have ended by five points or less: the Soviet Union’s highly controversial 51-50 victory over the United States in 1972, and the Americans’ 87-82 victory over France at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
The average margin of victory in all other men’s Olympic gold medal events: 19.6 points.
Comedian Jimmy Fallon has a few chairs set out for him. Scottie Pippen, who played on two “Dream Teams” for the U.S. in 1992 and 1996, and Carmelo Anthony also have chairs with their names on them.
Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe rush to watch the U.S. women win soccer, along with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. Only Bird, who has won five Olympic gold medals, and Rapinoe have chairs with their names on them.
An hour before the game, NBA and Olympic jerseys lined the stands, with fans representing LeBron James, Scottie Pippen, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Tony Parker and Victor Wembanyama.
The first three people on the field for the Olympic gold medal match were U.S. assistant coaches Erik Spoelstra, Tyronn Lue and Mark Few.
There are strict rules about the fact that players are not allowed on the court until exactly 60 minutes before tip-off. The first players to enter the court were LeBron James (who started with a dunk) for the US and Victor Wembanyama for France.
And let’s just say LeBron’s shoes will be totally on trend: a metallic green color that sparkles in the light.
France is about to embark on a big weekend of basketball to close out the Paris Olympics, with both the men’s and women’s teams playing for gold medals. And they’re playing the Americans.
The French teams will have no shortage of support.
Whenever the French teams played – whether in Lille during the group stage or now in Paris at the Bercy Arena – the fans were not afraid to show up and make themselves seen.
American striker Breanna Stewart looks out for the environment.
“The way fans continue to support their country and come to France,” Stewart said, “… hopefully we’ll have some from the States. They’re vocal and they’re making an impact on the women’s game.”
Read more about the matches France – USA this weekend
Some fans are streaming into the Bercy Arena for the final of the men’s basketball tournament, including a few Americans carrying red, white and blue flags.
In that respect they are in the minority.
France, with its blue-white-red tricolour, of course has the same colour scheme and over 1,000 hand flags were handed out on a seating area behind one of the baskets for the men’s gold medal match.
Meanwhile, French basketball legend Tony Parker will be present at the pre-match ceremony, adding to the festive atmosphere before the game kicks off.
Jayson Tatum has not played in two of the five U.S. games on the Olympic Games in Paris, was eliminated in both matches against Serbia.
And again, U.S. coach Steve Kerr said it’s not an accusation against Tatum.
“It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson. It’s what I’ve seen from the other guys,” Kerr said. “As I’ve said many times throughout this tournament and the last six weeks, it’s just hard to have 11 guys playing, even in an NBA game.”
Read more on Kerr’s line-up decisions and the balanced attack of the Americans
She gave Kevin Durant the game ball after breaking Lisa Leslie’s all-time US Olympic basketball scoring record in the quarterfinals of the Paris Games. And of course, he received a lot of congratulations from his biggest fan afterwards.
That fan — Wanda Durant, his mother — wasn’t surprised by the way her son reacted to her words. To her, it was a really big deal.
For her son, the record is just something that happened. He has a fourth Olympic gold medal on his mind and that is his motivation at the moment.
Read more on Kevin and Wanda Durant
Blood stained the neckline of Victor Wembanyama the shirt of ‘s after France secured a place in the gold medal match at the Olympic Games in Paris, due to a fresh cut on the left side of his neck. He sweated profusely during the match and held back tears when it was all over.
Blood, sweat and tears. How fitting.
“In our anthem we talk about blood,” Wembanyama said. “We are willing to shed blood on the field. So it’s not a big deal. If it allows us to win gold, I offer it. Take it all.”
Wembanyama — NBA rookie of the year, No. 1 draft pick, already an international phenomenon — has a new distinction. He’s an Olympic medalist. The only question is whether it’ll be gold or silver, which will be decided Saturday night in the final game of the men’s basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics.
Read more about Victor Wembanyama’s Olympic Performance
French fans have booed Joel Embiid all Olympics —regardless of who the US is facing.
It all stems from his decision to play for the US instead of France, which earned him naturalized citizen status in 2022, even though he has never lived there.
The boos will almost certainly be in full force as France takes on the US for gold.
Read more about what Embiid thinks of the boos
After the US and France play for the men’s basketball gold the same countries in the women’s final on sunday.
The US has Won 60 consecutive games at the Olympic Games, a streak dating back to 1992 in Barcelona.
A victory would give Diana Taurasi a sixth consecutive gold medal, making her the most decorated basketball player in Olympic history, breaking a tie with teammate Sue Bird, who won five.
Read more about the second final basketball USA-France in Paris
The men’s basketball final at the Paris Olympics is a repeat of the gold medal match in Tokyo three years ago.
Kevin Durant scored 29 points to become the only three-time gold medalist in Olympic history, along with Carmelo Anthony. Jayson Tatum added 19 as the U.S. held off France 87-82.
Nikola Jokic had the fifth triple-double in Olympic history, and Serbia beats Germany 93-83 to win the bronze medal in men’s basketball at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP for the Denver Nuggets, finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to help Serbia win its first medal since silver in Rio in 2016.
Serbia recovered after nearly beating four-time reigning gold medallist USA in the semi-finals.
Read more about Serbia’s victory about Germany
The men’s basketball tournament ends with the US takes on host France in a confrontation at the Bercy Arena.
The American men came back to defeat Serbia 95-91 in a exciting semi-final. Stephen Curry had 36 points.
Now Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James will lead the team in the fight for a fifth consecutive gold medal and 17th place in the overall standings.
The French, led by phenomena Victor Wembanyamaare seeking their first gold after settling for silver at the 1948, 2000 and 2020 Olympics, losing the final to the Americans in each of those tournaments. France held off world champions Germany 73-69 to advance to Saturday’s final.
The match, a repeat of the final in Tokyo three years ago, starts at 9:30 p.m. CEST/3:30 p.m. EDT.