Matty Writes Sports

Men’s Basketball at the Paris 2024 Olympics concluded with a rematch of the 2020 Olympics final, between the omnipotent Team USA and the hosts, France, in a match up that many did not have on the cards. Throughout the Group stages, the hosts had gone 2-1, but did not look entirely convincing in any of their preliminary matches.

Their opener against Brazil, ended in a 78-66 victory, but the French offence looked clunky, with NBA Rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama and 4x Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert struggling to connect on the offensive side of the ball, however, the combined defensive prowess of the Twin Towers had powered them to victory against the Cariocas.

In their second matchup against Japan, the Tokyo Runners up needed overtime to beat them, with Matthew Strazel’s miracle 4 point play rescued the French in regulation, before Les Bleu eventually ended up victorious, in a 94-90 matchup.

The same could not be said for their 3rd and final game against the World Champions Germany however, as their neighbours thoroughly outclassed them, Franz Wagner exploding for two dunks, one over Victor Wembanyama and the other late in the game over Isaia Cordinier summing up the game for France, as Germany improved to 3-0, whilst handing the French their first defeat in their host Olympics.

However, their 2-1 record was enough to set up a date with Canada, who were seen as second favourites to claim Olympic Glory, but the North Americans were upset by their European opponents, with the unlikely duo of Guerschon Yabusele and Isaia Cordinier powering the French over the Road Warriors, with a late, desperation three from Evan Fournier putting the icing on the cake of an 82-73 victory, despite NBA Players Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert and Nicolas Batum combining for only 3 points in the Fourth quarter.

Next, France had their chance for revenge, as the Germans, fresh off of a victory against the Greeks, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, strolled into the ACCOR Arena in Paris, ready to defeat the French for the second time in this Olympics.

Les Bleu had other ideas.

Despite a 22% 3pt Percentage, France came out victorious in a grueling battle, a 73-69 victory, once again capped off by the excellent performances of Cordinier and Yabusele, who led the French in scoring with 16 and 17 points respectively, whilst Germany struggled on offence, with Dennis Schroder ending the game 6-18. Not that the French cared. They were on their way to their second consecutive Gold Medal Game.

Standing in their way… Goliath. Team USA, led by the three headed monster of LBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant were in their 5th consecutive Gold Medal game, vying for their 5th consecutive Gold.

It was James who got the scoring going, but the Americans were never able to pull away from the resilient French team, who responded to everything that the USA threw at them, with runs of their own. Guerschon Yabusele’s ferocious dunk over King James showed Team USA that this was a contest, a contest that the French had every desire to emerge victorious from, despite being down by 8 at the half time buzzer.

In the second, the French continued their dogged display, with veteran point guard Nando de Colo stabilising the offence and keeping France in the game, with key buckets from Yabusele and Matthias Lessort able to prevent the USA from pulling away. With 7 minutes left in the 4th, Evan Fournier, an NBA veteran of 12 years hit a huge three to cut the USA lead down to 6.

For a time, it looked like the momentum was shifting towards Les Bleu, the crowd in the ACCOR Arena spurring their warriors on, as with only 3 minutes left the lead was only 3.

But then, the real Warrior arrived. The Golden State Warrior.

Wardell Stephen Curry, fresh off of his tournament high 36 points in a nail biter against Serbia in the Semi-Finals less than 48 hours before, dived deep into his bag of tricks and pulled out the remedy to the French fightback.

With 2:48 left in the game, the Chef sent Yabusele to the shadow realm before draining the first of four huge three balls to ice the game for the United States, who had desperately needed his wizardry to avoid Olympic failure for the first time since the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Perhaps the most impressive of the bunch however, was with only 40 seconds left of the game. Double teamed by the duo of Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier, Steph danced and dazzled his way out of coverage before launching up a prayer, which floated high in the air before sinking into the hoop, sinking France’s Olympic dreams with it. It cemented Curry’s legacy, if it wasn’t already, as the greatest point guard to have played the game of basketball.

Glory with Team USA all but cemented this status.

Overall, France can be happy with their peformance, and at the next games in Los Angeles in 4 years, they may be even better. With the growth of 20 year old Victor Wembanyama, as well as development from the top two picks of this year’s draft, Zaccharie Risaccher and Alexandre Sarr, as well as rising talents in Tidjane Salaun and Bilal Coulibaly, well…. who knows what the French could do in 4 years.

But for now, its time for the USA to celebrate taking gold. To celebrate being on top of the basketball world. Again.

Key Box Score:

Team USA:

• Stephen Curry: 30 mins, 24 pts, 8-12 3pa
• Lebron James: 32 mins, 16 pts, 10 assists
• Anthony Davis: 20 mins, 8 points, 9 rebounds, 6 OREBS

France:

• Victor Wembanyama: 30 mins, 26 pts, 11-19 FGM
• Guerschon Yabusele: 31 mins, 20 pts
• Nando de Colo: 28 mins, 12 pts, 3 ast, 5-7 FGM