Aug. 6, 2021, 9:29 p.m. ET
The French team — whose best men’s basketball results are silver medals in 1948 and 2000 — narrowly slipped into the championship game with a 90-89 win over Slovenia, needing a last-second block from Nicolas Batum on Klemen Prepelic’s layup attempt to seal the result.
Rudy Gobert, the 7-foot-1 center, has been a vital presence for France in the paint. He finished with nine points, 16 rebounds and four blocks in the game against Slovenia, and the French will certainly look to establish his presence early and often in the title game.
Evan Fournier, who signed with the Knicks this week, exploded for 28 points against the United States in the teams’ first meeting. The American players afterward praised the French team’s execution on offense, which comes in part as a result of many years of continuity in the program. In some sense, the game pits the well-drilled French against the supremely talented Americans.
Aug. 6, 2021, 8:32 p.m. ET
TOKYO — The men’s basketball tournament at the Tokyo Olympics comes to a close on Saturday with a gold medal game between the United States and France in the morning (Friday night in the United States) and a third-place matchup between Australia and Slovenia later in the day.
Men’s
Basketball
Gold
Medal
›
-
![ITA flag]()
Italy
75
![FRA flag]()
France
84
-
![SLO flag]()
Slovenia
94
![GER flag]()
Germany
70
-
![ESP flag]()
Spain
81
![USA flag]()
United States
95
-
![AUS flag]()
Australia
97
![ARG flag]()
Argentina
59
-
![FRA flag]()
France
90
![SLO flag]()
Slovenia
89
-
![USA flag]()
United States
97
![AUS flag]()
Australia
78
-
Finals
![FRA flag]()
France
![USA flag]()
United States
-
Bronze
![SLO flag]()
Slovenia
![AUS flag]()
Australia
The Americans, who have won three straight gold medals in the event dating back to 2008, dropped their tournament opener to France, raising questions about the team’s preparedness for these Games. It did not help they had multiple shaky showings, including two losses, in a run of warm-up games before traveling to Tokyo.
But they have improved in every game since. The question is whether they have improved enough, in this short amount of time, to secure the championship.
Aug. 6, 2021, 8:32 p.m. ET
Despite their loss in the opener, the Americans are still favored to win their 16th gold medal in men’s basketball.
A big part of their recent surge in confidence has been the play of Kevin Durant, who became the country’s career leading scorer in Olympic play during the tournament and has looked dominant in the team’s last two games. After scoring only 10 points in the loss to France, he is leading the team with 19.0 points per game. Jayson Tatum, coming off the bench, has added 14.4 points per game, while Jrue Holliday has chipped in 12.0.
For all the Americans’ scoring prowess, it will be their team defense that could make the difference. France, like basically every other team the United States has faced, tried to use size and strength to bully the Americans’ smaller lineups. Rebounding on both sides of the ball will be crucial.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
