Team USA 98-87 France summary, stats, and highlights | Gold medal match Olympic basketball

Two of the greatest to ever do it, LeBron and Steph, teaming up to win the gold for their country. Team USA needed every last ounce of that greatness to beat France, and they needed it to beat Serbia in the semis. It's only going to get tougher. The rest of the world is catching up, and that's one of the biggest headlines coming out of this Olympics. But for now, Team USA is still la crème de la crème. 

Curry's endless highlight reel got another one tonight, and this one might have been his finest work ever. The greatest shooter in the history of the game had 8 threes in the gold medal match, four in the fourth quarter and his last one may be the most iconic three point he has ever made. That's saying something for Steph, but the gold medal was the only thing that was missing on his resume, and to be able to bring it home with a shot like this makes him that much more iconic. AURA, ladies and gentleman. This is AURA personified. 

There were so many plays that it seemed would be the game changing moment in which Team USA would pull ahead, but France kept counter punching after plays like this alley oop to Edwards from Kevin Durant. Durant is now the only male basketball player with four gold medals and ends the tournament as US Basketball's all-time leading scorer at the Olympics. 

With the French side fighting until the final buzzer, it was going to take a knock out blow to close out Wemby and company. Steph Curry made sure that he was going to be the one bringing home gold in his first ever Olympic Games.

We have seen it countless times with the Warriors so it's really no surprise that he stepped in the spotlight and dropped the mic on France in the fourth quarter. This was the first of a flurry of threes from Curry to bury the host nation. 

Wembanyama and Yabusele carried the host nation with the help of the home fans from Bercy Arena. The US went to halftime with an 8 point lead, but they could never pull away thanks to the 20 year old's 26 points and Yabusele's endless energy and sharp shooting. He ended the night with 20 points and will end the Olympics as many people's MVP in his home country. 

There may have been a shadow of doubt coming into the Olympics concerning who would be the leaders of this team? Who would be the ones that Team USA would go to when they needed big plays most? Seems silly to look back and doubt that it would ever be anyone other than LeBron and Steph. They may be in the late stages of their careers, but they are still the best players that step on the court in any game, in competition, in any country. 

Stephen Curry missed his first three shots of the night, and you started to think that maybe just maybe it was going to be a cold night for Chef Curry after a 36 point night against Serbia. Then you remember it's the greatest shooter that has ever walked the earth and once the first one went down, you knew there would be more to come. 

Give a lot of credit to Victor Wembanyama, Guerschon Yabusele and the rest of the French team. They trailed the whole way, but never gave in. They never stopped fighting. The rest of the world is catching up to the US, but this isn't the time for a deep introspective on that. This is a time to celebrate the United States continued dominance in the sport that was created in it's backyard. 

Like most games in this run to the gold medal, it was 39 year-old LeBron James lifting his team in the early minutes. He set the tone on both ends of the court and had Team USA out in front from the first few minutes. 

Team USA conquered their fifth straight Olympic gold medal and still sit atop the international basketball mountain after their 98-87 win over the host nation of France. Steph Curry led the way for the second straight game, scoring 24 points, 12 in the final few minutes of the game to seal his first ever Olympic gold. 

IT'S ALL OVER!!! 

TEAM USA WIN THEIR FIFTH STRAIGHT GOLD MEDAL AFTER ANOTHER TIGHT GAME AGAINST A RISING NATION IN WORLD BASKETBALL!!!

Booker ends the game with a wide open jam to secure the gold for Team USA!!

CURRY DOES IT AGAIN!!! HIS FOURTH STRAIGHT THREE!! ONE OF THE BEST THREES OF HIS CAREER IN ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF HIS CAREER!

Wemby jacks a desperation three ball and that goes for France with under 1:00 to go!

Curry did it again!!! A pump fake and three ball with a hand in his face! 

Batum answers back with a triple to keep France in the game with 1:42 to go!

Curry drills a three ball off another one of his patented pump fakes!

De Colo on the fader in the lane and it's back to 6 points. 

Timeout France with 2:22 to go in the 4th quarter. 

Durant fouled after grabbing the rebound and he goes to the line where he hits both FTs. 

Curry wrong footed Yabusele and pulled up from the top of the key to silence the crowd from DT!

Wemby follows his own miss and dunks it in!

Yabusele with the steal and he's going to the line after trying to dunk on Steph and LeBron! He hits one of two FTs. 

De Colo goes right at Davis and lays it up over the big man down low!

Coulibaly pulls up from the FT line and gets the runner to go. 

LeBron with a head of steam to the rim and he finishes with the two handed slam!

Lessort with the spin on Holiday in the and he lays it up and in. 

Wemby to the line after the foul on Davis and he hits one of two FTs. He's got 21 in the gold medal match. 

Holiday drills the three ball off the offensive rebounds from Booker!

Lessort to the line after the foul on Durant and he hits one of two FTs. 

KD with the shot clock winding down and he drills the three from the top of the key!

Lessort hitting the boards and he gets the put back to go off the Fournier miss. 

AD with the offensive rebound and put back off the miss from Durant. 

WE HAVE A SIX POINT GAME GOING INTO THE FINAL QUARTER!!!

THIS IS WHERE TEAM USA HAS BEEN BEST BUT FRANCE IS AT HOME AND HAS THE HOME CROWD WITH THEM. 

Terrible last possession of the third quarter from the US, Edwards got picked by De Colo and he laid it up before getting his shot blocked off the back board by Durant. Goaltend and good basket to end the 3rd quarter!

Fournier pulls up from the wing and hits a huge three ball!

KD running the break and he lobs it up for Edwards for the alleey oop on the break!

Cordinier to the line after the foul on Davis but he misses both!

Davis follows up the Edwards miss and tips it back in. 

Fournier cuts to the bucket and gets the inbound pass in the lane for the lay up. 

LeBron answers back with a step back three ball from the wing! This is LeBron's time. Watch him shine. 

Fournier pulls up off the dribble and drops the three ball from the wing!

Wemby launches a three ball and sinks it from the wing! Timeout USA with 4:01 to go in the third quarter. 

Embiid gets the rebound on one end and finds LeBron cherry picking on the other end for the slam!

De Colo missed the lay up but Wemby was there with the tip in. 

KD with an impossible shot over Yabu and he hits the elbow jumper. He can do that with his eyes closed. Great defense, better offense. 

De Colo pullsl up from the top of the key and drains the triple!

Technical on Embiid and De Colo hits the FT to break the US run. 

Pick and roll from LeBron and Curry and the King hits Curry for the three on the wing. 

Timeout France with under 7:00 to go in the third. 

Yabusele to the line after the foul on LeBron. He hits both FTs. 

Embiid back to the line after the foul on Yabusele and he hits both FTs. The lead is up to 13 just like that. France can't let this game get out of hand before the 4th quarter. 

Yabusele backing down Booker and he gets the jump hook to go off the glass. 

Curry on the pump fake and he jacks the three in transition!

Emiid sent to the line by Yabusele and he hits both FTs. 

Cordinier finds Wemby down low and turns before stretching for the lay up. 

KD pulls up from the elbow and starts the second half with a mid range jumper. 

WE ARE BACK IN PARIS FOR THE SECOND HALF OF PLAY!!

Don't let NBA's twitter fool you. Yabusele is the top scorer. But Wemby, Booker and LeBron all had nice first halves as well. 

Sometimes, there's just no stopping LeBron. He took on three defenders and no one dared to get in his way. 

Curry came out and missed his first few shots, but found the bottom of the net on this three ball. He's got 6 points on 2/5 shooting. 

Wemby had 7 in the first quarter after starting the last couple games off slow. Yabusele joined him in the second quarter and has France with in striking distance. 

LeBron started things off for Team USA as he so often does. He's got 7, 5 and 2 at half. Maybe not another triple double in store tonight, but he'll be fine with a gold meda. 

THE FIRST HALF IS OVER!!!!

TEAM USA ARE ON TOP BY 8 BUT FRANCE ARE KEEPING IT CLOSE THANKS TO YABUSELE. 

Wemby has 13, Yabu has 15, but Booker's got 13, James 7, KD 6 and Edwards has another 6. 

Wemby slips it off for Yabusele who gets the reverse to go as the buzzer sounds!

Curry with the extra pass to Holiday across the arc and he drops the three ball from the right wing!

Yabusele to the line after the foul on Adebayo and he hits one of two but Wemby followed it up with a tip in. 

Durant with the steal and he looks up for Booker for the lay up in transition and the foul! FT is good. Just like that we've got a double digit game!

Curry with the three from the corner and it hits off the front iron, bounces up and falls down for Steph!

YABUSLE JUST DUNKED ALL OVER LEBRON!!!! AND GOT THE FOUL!!!! FT IS GOOD. 

MVP!!! MVP!!! MVP!!!

Curry slings it to KD from the baseline and he drills the three ball!

Yabusele fouled by Adebayo on a last gasp three ball at the end of the shot clock and Yabu hits two of three FTs. 

LeBron driving down the lane, splits three defenders with the spin and lays it up and in with the foul on Lessort! FT is good from LeBron. 

De Colo pulls up from the corner and hits the long two. 

Adebayo drops the hammer down low off the dish from Curry. 

Lessort finds Yabusele scaling the baseline for the reverse lay up. 

Extra pass from Booker to a wide open Curry on the wing and he drills it for his first points of the game. 

Booker on the three ball from the kick off from Holiday and he's got double digits already!

Wemby clears out the space down low and lays it up and in. 

James goes right at Wemby, takes the contact and lays it up from a tight angle. 

Coulibaly with the give and go from Strazel and he smashes it home! 8-0 run from France and USA needs a timeout down one with 7:11 to go in the second quarter. 

Strazel with a deep three and he banks it in from the wing!

Kickout from Strazel and Yabusele knocks down the three ball from the wing. 

Holiday missed the lay up but Davis was there on the tip slam. 

Wemby follows up the miss from Yabusele with a tip in off the rim. 

Holiday finds AD down low and he stretches for the reverse lay up on the baseline. 

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER!!!!

Team USA lead by 5. Booker has 7 and Edwards has 6 off the bench. Wemby has 7, but no one else has done much for France. 

Edwards with the step back and he hits the three from the win over Gobert!

Ntiilikina on the drive to the bucket and he lays it up and in off the glass. 

Another bad giveaway from France and Edwards strokes a three ball with a foot right behind  the line. 

Timeout France with under 2:00 to go in the first quarter. 

Batum looks down low for Gobert shielding off his defender for the slam in the paint. 

Curry found Tatum up the court for the two handed slam on the break after a cheap turnover from France. 

LeBron behind the back to Booker who cut down the baseline for the lay up. 

Wemby with a pump fake and cross over to get the lane open and he slams it home with a tomahawk jam!

Yabusele on the drive to the rack and he throws it down with two hands in traffic. 

Curry with the dish down the lane to Booker and Book drops the hammer. 

KD with the catch and shoot long off the dish from Booker.  

Wemby on the block and he goes drop step to the rack and the lay up. 

Batum follows up the miss from Ntikilina and drops down the hammer!

Booker drills a three ball and answers Wemby's triple!

Wemby gets off to a hot start with a three ball from the left wing. He's started slow recently. 

LeBron driving down the land and KD hit him for the two handed slam!

WE ARE UNDERWAY FROM PARIS!!! 40 MINUTES TO DECIDE A WINNER HERE FROM BERCY ARENA!

USA Starting Five 

Coach Kerr is going with KD in the first five for the first time in this Olympics. He is joined by Booker, Curry, James, Curry and Embiid who should get a cold welcome here in Bercy Arena. 

Curious case of Tatum and Gobert

Both France and Team USA have had to sacrifice stars for the good of the team. For Steve Kerr, he has come under some criticism mostly from people in Boston because of his decision to bench Jayson Tatum no just once but twice. He did so in the first game against Serbia to kick off the Olympic campaign and did so again in the semifinal. Kerr said he felt like “an idiot” opting to not play the newly crowned NBA champ after the first game. He backed up his decision not to play Tatum in the semis and it paid off, but not without a sweat. Rudy Gobert has been going through the same thing lately. The four time Defensive Player of the Year played just 3 minutes against Canada and 5 minutes against Germany. 

Last gold medal game in Tokyo

Last gold medal game in Tokyo France and Team USA battled for all forty minutes, and it was the Americans that came out on top in an 87-82 game in which Kevin Durant had 29 points. Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier ad 16 points a piece and Yabusele chipped in 13 for a France team that has six of the same players from their Tokyo team. Team USA has five players from that gold medal winning team, but absent from that team were LeBron James, Steph Curry, Anthony Edwards, Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis among others. France is a better team today than they were four years ago, but so is Team USA. The important thing to take from the last gold medal game, and Team USA’s last game against Serbia, is this team is not as invincible as it once was. 

Star watch: France

We already know that Wemby is going to have to be fantastic if France are going to have a shot tonight. That’s a given, but France are going to need their perimeter guys to play a huge role like they have in the last two games. Isaiah Cordinier and Guershon Yabusele have been the ones leading France in the knockout stages, and if they can continue to lead the team the host country might have a shot to beat the United States. Cordinier plays for Virtus Bologna in Italy while Guershon Yabusele is one of the stars on Euroleague powerhouse Real Madrid.

Star watch: Team USA 

What can we say about the stars on this team that hasn’t already been said? If it’s not LeBron, it’s Curry. If it’s not Curry it’s KD, and on the odd shot that none of them step up and win the game you have Devin Booker, or Anthony Davis or Joel Embiid. This team is built to be unbeatable, and they showed that even if a team is as close perfect as you can get Team USA will still find a way to beat you. Today I want to see what Anthony Edwards has in store for the gold medal game. He is the star of the future in the NBA, and he knows that Victor Wembanyama and him will be fighting for MVP awards as well as NBA titles before too long. He’s going to take this as a head to head match up and he’s not going to want to be outshined by Wemby. 

Last game: USA

Team USA had suffered scares late in games, but those were in the exhibition games leading up to their time in Paris. Once the Olympics started, there was no stopping Team USA. They breezed past group stages, smashed Brazil in the quarters, but Serbia had nearly a perfect game and almost stunned one of the best teams ever assembled. The Americans trailed by as many as 17 as Serbia kept a double digit lead until the start of the final quarter. Steph Curry and LeBron James have been the best players of this generation in the NBA, and when Team USA needed them most they showed up. Curry dropped nine threes and finished the game with 36 points while LeBron had a triple double as the United States won the fourth quarter 32-15 to sneak out of the semis with a four point win. 

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Last game: France

The host nation went into their semifinal game against the defending World Cup Champions knowing they were going to have to beat Germany to get a chance at Team USA and the gold medal. They watched as Germany came out hot hitting their first five FGs, and climbing out to a double digit lead, but France’s defense came to play in the second quarter, allowing just 8 points as Victor Wembanyama and Isaiah Cordinier helped the hosts tie the game up at halftime. Coming out of the break it was Guershon Yabusele that took the spotlight, scoring nine straight points to give France a lead they wouldn’t let go of. Yabusele led France in scoring for a second straight knockout game as he was showered with MVP chants, and Cordinier had 16 while Wemby had 11, 7 and 4 to send France to their second straight gold medal match. 

We are live from Bercy

Hello everyone and welcome to Paris where the city, the country and the world will be watching tonight from Bercy Arena. One of the greatest rosters ever assembled was put together to bring the glory and gold back to the United States. It’s not that Team USA’s grip on Olympic basketball has been slipping because they have won four straight golds, but there was a sense that the rest of the world was catching up after Germany won the World Cup last year. Now LeBron James, Steph Curry and the rest of this team of super stars are one win away the gold medal and one win away from reminding the world that the creators of the game are still the best in the game. France isn’t here by chance. France has been building a culture of basketball for decades, and now they are in their second straight gold medal match with the belief that they can win gold on their home soil. We couldn’t ask for a better match up so sit back and enjoy the next couple hour. 

France vs. Team USA 

You couldn’t ask for a better matchup in the gold medal match in one of the headline events of the Olympics. This game is packed full of star power on both sides as LeBron James leads his super team full of stars against Victor Wembanyama and the rest of the French Revolution looking to take over the game of basketball. It’s Team USA taking on France in a rematch of the last gold medal match up from Tokyo and AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight’s game from Bercy Arena.