Team USA wins gold over France.
For the 4th straight time since 2008, the United States Men’s National Basketball Team has claimed gold in the Olympics, defeating France 87–82 on Friday.
Team USA took a lot of criticism this summer as possibly one of the more disappointing teams in recent history after losing two games in their exhibition matchups and an opening loss to France in the Prelims.
All those doubts were put to rest after a huge third quarter from the U.S., surviving a 4th quarter France run to earn their 4th straight gold medal.
Kevin Durant was one of the biggest reasons the U.S Men’s National Basketball Team was able to claim gold in Tokyo, putting on huge performances in all games this summer, averaging 19 points a game for the U.S and capping it off with a 29 point performance in tonight’s final win.
“We went through some real adversity, we lost a game in the tournament, we lost two exhibition games. We just fought through everything,” said Durant.
Despite shooting a game-low 28% (9–32) from the three, Team USA was able to defeat France with the help of multiple players finishing in double figures.
The Boston Celtics young star Jayson Tatum finished second in points for the U.S, scoring 19 points on 3 of 5 (60%) shooting from three and 8 of 14 (57%) shooting overall from the floor.
Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard both finished with 11 points a piece.
The gold marks the 16th time the U.S. has claimed gold in the Summer Olympics in the game’s history. Team USA was able to avenge their first loss to France after losing to them in the first game of the prelims, which was the first game the U.S. had lost since 2004.
