For the first time ever, two nations’ men’s and women’s basketball teams will battle for gold in the same Olympic Games as Team USA and France meet in the Paris 2024 finals.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Golden Doubleheader: USA vs France pic.twitter.com/JTlI2iN8t6
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 9, 2024
The men were close to being stunned by Nikola Jokić and Serbia before the U.S. pulled off a 17-point comeback and narrowly squeaked out a 95-91 win on Thursday.
Claiming their 60th straight win at the Olympics since 1992 in Barcelona, Spain, the American women thwarted the Australians from any offensive success, securing an 85-64 victory on Friday to join the men in the finals.
As for France, the men had a tough tilt with Germany and were just able to prevail 73-69. The women survived an upset by Belgium as they held on to an 81-75 victory in overtime on Wednesday.
The men’s game between the Americans and the French will be a back-and-forth war between two teams who have stars all over their roster. On the other hand, the women’s side looks to be a mismatch on paper with the amount of star power the U.S. has in comparison to France, but they should not be underestimated.
With a chance to add another gold to their collections at the Paris 2024 Olympics, both nations will look to achieve glory this weekend.
U.S. women cruising, eyeing 8 straight golds
In the women’s side of the tournament, the United States has steamrolled over every opponent they have faced thus far without much issues. They swept Group C 3-0 with wins over Japan, Germany and Belgium, defeated Nigeria in the quarterfinals and destroyed Australia in the semis to get to this point.
The Greatest Dynasty Ever. ????#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/AirX0gNDPk
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 9, 2024
The U.S. women are an Olympic dynasty as not only have they won 60 consecutive games, but they have won gold in the last seven Olympic Games and will look to make it eight. They have been champions in nine of the last 10, with them finishing third in 1992.
Leading Team USA to this final stage of the tournament, the duo of A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart have been the story for the Americans. Wilson has recorded a double-double in three of the five games and scored in double digits in all five. Like Wilson, Stewart has had 10-plus points per game.
What has been the key for the U.S. has been that they are not afraid to share the ball and give it off to anyone up and down the roster. No matter who head coach Cheryl Reeve calls upon to check into a game, they step up and continue to pour their skill on the court both offensively and defensively.
During the past two games, Reeve has elected to start Jackie Young over Diana Taurasi and Young has done everything she has been asked to do, and then some. Since coming off the bench and dropping 19 points on Germany in the group stage, the Aces star went off for 15 against Nigeria and 14 in the semifinal matchup vs. Australia.
Having a team full of WNBA superstars on one roster has boded well for this successful run, the Americans will go up against France who narrowly got past Belgium. The U.S. beat Belgium 87-74 in their group-stage matchup on Aug. 1.
No matter if France doesn’t have nearly as much talent as the United States, the gold is not guaranteed for Team USA and they will have to treat the French seriously if they want to continue its dominance at the Olympics. With the game being in France, the home crowd will create a hostile environment, making this an intriguing matchup to watch as to how Team USA will handle the pressure.
The American and French women will battle it out for gold on Sunday at 6:30 a.m. PT.
Men’s matchup engulfed in talent, setting up contested clash
From just being able to avoid a massive upset in a 101-100 pre-Olympic exhibition win over South Sudan to advancing to the Olympic final with relative ease, the USA Basketball Men’s National Team has built their chemistry and is clicking at the right time.
With a roster including Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Lebron James, the Americans rolled past their competition leading up to the semifinal battle with Serbia. The USA beat Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico by 17-plus points in each game in the group stage, demolishing Brazil 122-87 and getting past Serbia in the knockout rounds.
Despite rotating his team early on, American head coach Steve Kerr has relied on the veterans on the team to close out games and it has worked. Curry, Durant, James, Joel Embiid and Devin Booker have stepped up as the main contributors in the Olympics, with Booker the only player below 30 years old who is a part of that group.
When players like Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton not playing a second in the semifinal not being a cause for concern, it shows that Kerr is surrounded by talent and is going to the players he trusts.
Standing in the way of their fifth straight gold, French sensation Victor Wembanyama will hope to shine in front of home fans as they too have had a journey to remember.
France are 4-1 going to the championship, with their lone loss being to Germany in the group stage. With their rematch in the semis, France avenged the defeat with a 73-69 win on Thursday.
Going for Gold against the hosts.
???????? #USABMNT vs ???????? France on Saturday (3:30 pm ET, NBC + Peacock). pic.twitter.com/Xjp4rMvf9Z
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 9, 2024
Even though the United States has a star from the first player to the last, France is one of the nations with the most amount of NBA experience. Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, Frank Ntilikina, Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier and Guerschon Yabusele are just some who have played at the highest level of professional men’s basketball.
It will be interesting to see Kerr and his former assistant Kenny Atkinson go head-to-head for the gold since they both worked together with the Golden State Warriors for the past three seasons. Atkinson was hired this offseason as the newest head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The men’s matchup between France and the U.S. starts on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT.
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
