Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Team USA beat France for the gold medal in the Olympic final

Victor Wembanyama and Guerschon Yabusele carried France as long as possible, but Team USA defeated them in the Olympic final to claim its fifth straight gold medal. Anthony Davis was the top big man of the game, blowing up actions and buying extra possessions. And Stephen Curry lit up the defense with eight long-range strikes and put the match out of reach.

Early, France deployed a zone defensively, and Wembanyama uncorked their offense by canning a left-side catch-and-shoot bomb, dunking in transition after losing Joel Embiid at the top of the key on a hesitation move and posting him up for a nice maneuver off the glass.

In that span, the Americans reacted with LeBron James’ fastbreak jam, a layup by Devin Booker and Kevin Durant pouring in a triple.

Wembanyama sat after five minutes, and Gobert checked in for him. France’s offense stalled until the former came back in at the last two minutes, giving them a twin towers lineup.

The first quarter closed with Team USA ahead 20-15.

The Americans followed up in the second quarter with a feast in the open court. James had multiple marks, including a spin through the lane past various defenders for an and-one. Davis denied Isaïa Cordinier’s top-of-the-key triple and beat everyone down the court for the basket. Jayson Tatum dunked against none. And Curry connected on a quick corner three as Wemby closed out.

But the other side kept it close. Guerschon Yabusele broke down interior defenses- his signature moment was demolishing James, who tried to take a charge on a shattering dunk. Wembanyama slowed down but added a putback, layup and slam. And Cordinier splashed an outrageous, bank-shot triple on the right side.

Team USA was up 49-41 at halftime, shooting 50% from the field, including 45% from deep (nine of 20). Booker had 13 points on five of seven looks.

France recorded three of 16 3-point attempts but made 64% of two-point shots.

Subsequently, Team USA drained three of four 3-pointers and tallied three buckets at close range. But they got sloppy.

On the other side, Wembanyama scored on a left-side pick-and-roll set with Cordinier, had a putback and swished a catch-and-release left-wing tray.  Yabusele made a jumper and two freebies. And Nando de Colo added six points, including the fastbreak layup to end the frame.

The fourth quarter started with Team USA up 72-66.

France kept it within striking distance as De Colo scored on the pick-and-roll set with Wembanyama in crunch time. With a six-point lead and fewer than two minutes left, Curry put the game closed, hitting a catch-and-shoot triple up top.

Team USA won 98-87, shooting 53.7% from the field, including 50% from deep. The double-digit scorers were Curry (24), Booker (15), Durant (15) and James (14).

Wembanyama (26), Yabusele (20) and De Colo (12) were France’s double-digit scorers.

Curry handled the on-court interview. He said, “This was a test [with] France in their home building (Bercy Arena) They threw everything at us…”

Further comment:

Durant became the first player to win four Olympic gold medals in basketball, further cementing himself as one of the greats of his generation.

Davis was a defensive powerhouse, putting up four of the squad’s six blocks. His work guarding opponents throughout the tournament was top-tier, too.

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