Did I mention the final score? 87-82

On that note, I’ll sign off. Thanks for staying up to watch with me, congratulations to our French readers on an impressive silver medal performance, and to USA fans, exhale and enjoy.

Final numbers: Durant 29 points and six rebounds. Tatum 19 and 7. Holiday and Lillard 11 each despite a few missteps. And Draymond Green, my pick for someone who could step up, had a team-high five assists. So there.

Fournier and Gobert led France with 16 each. They played a marvelous game offensively, moving the ball well and attacking inside. The defense just wasn’t quite there.

Oh, and Jrue Holiday’s wife is former U.S. women’s soccer player Lauren (Cheney) Holiday, so now they both have gold medals.

Kevin Durant is one of the greatest U.S. Olympians ever. 29 points and intangible leadership. His third gold medal.

USA WIN THE GOLD MEDAL!

France doesn’t even foul. They know it’s over.

That shot was challenged, and it’s an airball.

BATUM MISSES, Holiday gets the rebound.

USA 87-82 France, 8.8 seconds left. Timeout France.

He hits two. 87-82 USA, and they just might escape.

Inbound ... to Durant. They foul him with 8.8 seconds. Will Captain America hit one?

Please, please, no overtime.

USA 85-82 France, 10 seconds left, USA possession. If they can hit one free throw or elude the defense entirely, they win gold.

De Colo drops it to Ntilikina. Miss, scramble, France has it. De Colo hits two free throws. 85-82, 10 seconds, timeout USA

85-80 USA after Lillard misses two and France replies and someone please call a timeout so I can keep up.

85-78 USA, 31 seconds after Holiday hits the first free throws, misses the second but gets his own rebound. Now Lillard is fouled. 23 seconds

The USA runs some clock. Holiday misses a three. Fournier misses a three with 36 seconds left. Holiday draws a foul with 31 seconds left. Has anyone named the sport in which his wife has won gold?

USA 84-78 France, 1:08 left after Fournier hits a 3-pointer.

Draymond Green shows alertness and awareness of international rules to swat the ball away from the rim. Devin Booker drives, gets fouled and hits two.

From a while ago ...

FRAAAAAAANK NTILIKINA FOR THREEEEE

70 - 73 I 35' I #FRAUSA

🇫🇷 🆚 🇺🇸 #TeamFranceBasket #Tokyo2020 #Basketball

— Equipes de France de Basket (@FRABasketball) August 7, 2021

De Colo, fresh from gesticulating at the ref, gets a rebound, and drives coast to coast for two. Tatum gets an offensive foul. Stomach is turning.

Gobert clanks his two free throws. Lillard feeds Tatum for a 3-pointer and ... it’s double digits again.

As much as we’re talking about how France refuses to go away, we also have to say the USA keeps counterpunching and keeping that lead.

USA 79-72 France, 3:59 left

Fournier scores off a scramble. Holiday turns it over.

Gobert draws a foul against Durant.

Tatum misses. The USA have two points through more than four minutes in this quarter. Frank Ntilikina hits a three to cut it to three. Uh oh.

But Lillard hits one for two. Holiday steals and dunks. Luwawu Cabarro misses, USA misses and gets the rebound, and Lillard scores again.

USA 73-67 France, 6:28 left

Timeout, USA. This has to be making them nervous. A bunch of experienced international players who’ve already got one fourth-quarter rally against them?

Holiday is misfiring, and it’s starting to hurt. Batum cuts the lead to six. Then his Milwaukee Bucks teammate, Middleton, has a turnover. Reminder -- they arrived late to these Olympics because there were busy winning the NBA championship.

And single digits. Again. Adebayo misses, and Luwawu Cabarrot drives for two at the other end.

Now Lavine misses from three. Will recent history repeat?

But I jinxed Gobert who travels in the paint with Durant guarding him. Durant feeds Adebayo at the other end, and ... double digits! Again.

To thank a French fan for checking in, enjoy ...

The view from France before sunrise ...

@duresport Browsing your live chat at HT from France and giving you a view from here. Never seen that many people awake at this hour (it’s 5.30 a.m !) ; not really in expectation of a win (stranger things and all though) but basketball people are up and watching. And KD is good…

— The tarée one (@eccentricbola) August 7, 2021

Third quarter: USA 71, France 63

France just won’t go away. Tatum misses a three. Heurtel misses, but Batum gets the rebound, and Luwawu Cabarrot hits a three.

Holiday misses and then fouls Gobert at the other end. His wife, incidentally, has a couple of gold medals. Name the sport.

Batum hits a three at the buzzer.

My goodness, international basketball moves quickly without all the stoppages we see in the NBA and college basketball. We’re already down to 1:18 left in the third, and again, this has been a good quarter for the USA.

France has 16 turnovers.

Oh, that’s a bad error from Tatum. But we have a miss from France, and Green (that man again!) finds Lavine alone inside.

Steal, and then Lavine shoots a long corner shot (but not 3) that hits the rim, bounces up several feet and then falls.

Steal, ball goes up to Tatum, and NOW we have a dunk.

Timeout France, and it’s 71-57.

Gobert dunks (have we seen a USA dunk yet?). Yabusele hits another three. Durant misses, and Yabusele tries again.

But Durant blocks Yabusele’s next effort, then hits a perimeter shot of his own.

It’s double digits, it’s not double digits, it’s double digits, she loves me, she loves me not ...

Durant goes up for the jam ... and Gobert just knocks him down. Durant hits one of two free throws, and the lead is, at least briefly, double digits again.

De Colo gets Booker in the air and draws Booker’s third foul. Tatum races back in to replace him.

Lillard draws a foul, but the refs decide he wasn’t shooting. No NBA “continuation” here.

Back and forth we go, and Lillard forces a de Colo turnover. Then he hits a tough corner three at the other end. Much better here from the sparkplug guard.

So what’s next? It feels like a pivotal moment in this game. Will France keep matching the USA with its inside game, the occasional 3-pointer and some USA misses? Or is this where the USA pulls away?

Yabusele comes out of the timeout to hit a three, and Gobert steals it from Holiday, so signs point to the former.

Gobert hits one of two free throws. Good thing for the USA he isn’t hitting all of them.

Durant hits a beautiful fadeaway. Forget for the moment that he has 23 points. That’s just pretty.

Good defense forces France to launch a 3-pointer as the shot clock expires, and Holiday drives for two at the other end.

Fournier misses. Durant hits a 3-pointer. France calls timeout.

USA 56-45, and they couldn’t have asked for a better start to the quarter.

Lillard gets his first assist. Then he fouls Gobert. Then de Colo drives and hits a tricky shot.

But then Lillard, given about 20 minutes to look at the hoop, hits his first 3-pointer fo the game. It’s 49-44.

NUMBERS

Durant has 21 points. The second foul late in the half could be a problem.

Durant also has hit two of the USA’s 3-pointers (albeit on seven attempts). Someone else needs to hit those. Tatum has one, accounting for part of his 11-point performance. The rest of the team has 12 points. That’s not good.

But Draymond Green has three assists.

Damian Lillard has no assists. And one point. And a minus-6 plus/minus.

Neither is this -- France has outrebounded the USA 23-14. Will we ever see Javale McGee?

For France -- Gobert has 13 points and seven rebounds, Fournier has 11, and de Colo has six assists.

About Zion ... Oliver Stein checks in again from Germany, where it’s not daytime, asking about Zion’s availability.

He was indeed a finalist for this team and didn’t make the cut.

To be fair, the problem here is post defense rather than explosive offense, so maybe he wouldn’t solve it

Bam Adebayo is carrying a lot of the defensive load and has three blocks against no fouls, but oddly enough, his plus/minus right now is minus-3. He was on the court when the USA had some shooting dry spells, though.

Attack inside, get free throws. That’s the French strategy on offense, and it’s working pretty well.

The defensive strategy of “nah, just let ‘em shoot from 12 to 24 feet” only worked for the first few minutes, and that’s why the USA lead.

HALFTIME: USA 44-39 France

Gobert lowers the shoulder into Durant, does it again, does it again, and then Durant lightly touches his arm. Foul on the USA. Gobert hits one of two.

Durant misses with two seconds left, and it’s time for a caffeine break.

Fournier’s free throws cut the lead to five. He has 11.

Yabusele starts shoving people under the basket, while the ball is well outside, and the refs have had enough. Middleton gets two free throws and makes the second.

Good insights here:

@duresport 'Has any country ever been the reigning World Cup (men’s soccer) champion and the reigning Olympic men’s basketball champion?'

Not that I'm aware. Italy got silver in the 2004 Olympics and won the World Cup in 2006 - closest I can think of (but in the wrong sequence)

— Kristian Ulrichsen (@Dr_Ulrichsen) August 7, 2021

A 3-pointer from de Colo, another USA foul, and Popovich calls timeout with the USA leading 43-36, pending some free throws by Fournier.

Durant has 21. That’s nearly half of the USA’s 43 points, and the lead is double digits again.

Speaking of inside play, and speaking of Duke, should Zion Williamson be on this team? He’s not the size of a tree like JaVale McGee, who hasn’t been in the game, but he plays bigger than his height and might give France something to think about in the paint.

Adebayo has to be the defensive stopper, and he is.

France, meanwhile, forgets that layups exist, and they let Tatum run down for two more.

First foul on Durant. Coming out of the timeout, France remembers it can go inside and does so.

A couple of free throws on successive possession, and France has whittled the lead to eight.

jayson tatum has always played for teams i hate so i feel like i could never fully appreciate him but my goodness what a buttery smooth player that man is

— Aaron West (@oeste) August 7, 2021

People have such an irrational hatred of my alma mater. Really! We’re nice people! With some ... highly notable exceptions.

USA 39-27 France, 3:35 left in the second: Unbelievably, this game is not a trending topic on Twitter.

France takes another timeout.

France is losing their minds. Adebayo strips the ball from Fournier, and whatever Fournier said in any language gets him a technical foul. Durant his a free throw for his 19th point. It’s 39-26.

Why would Moustapha Fall pass the ball there? He had a wide-open dunk but passed it out. A miss, a big Adebayo rebound, a Booker three, and it’s 38-26.

Durant’s free throw takes the lead to nine at 33-24. He has 15 already. Fifteen!

And now Tatum has nine.

The World Cup (soccer)/Olympic double? Has any country ever been the reigning World Cup (men’s soccer) champion and the reigning Olympic men’s basketball champion?

Anyway, Durant drives, dunks and is fouled. It’s too bad we don’t have a crowd here.

Timeout France. OK, maybe you can watch that video now. USA lead by six.

Lest you forget, not that anyone will let you, NBC commentator Vince Carter dunked over the 7-foot-infinity Frederic Weis in a meeting between these teams years ago.

Maybe watch this at halftime ...

Not much going on early. Tatum hits a nice shot, some free throws are made and missed, NBC loses the feed from its commentators, Mike Tirico takes over the call from the studio, and Middleton his a three to make it 28-20.

First quarter: USA 22-18 France

An unreal sequence with the USA forcing France to back away from a series of shots until, with the shot clock about to hit zero, they find the open man for a three.

But Tatum hits a three, France misses, Lillard heaves one and misses at the buzzer, and the USA has weathered a storm. Or a drought.

Can they keep doing that? Will we see another second- or third-quarter outburst as we’ve seen from this team a couple of times?

Draymond Green (hey, didn’t someone mention him earlier?) drops the ball back to Durant, and Nicolas Batum inexplicably clobbers the USA captain as he tries a 3-pointer. Durant hits all three, and the USA lead 18-15.

FINALLY! A 3-POINTER! It’s Khris Middleton, and it’s 15-15.

Can’t hit from outside? Then go inside. Durant hits a couple of shots from 12 feet.

If you’d told Popovich the USA would miss its first eight 3-pointers and still be within two points, he’d probably be very confused and go on a rant about the USA’s treatment of asylum-seekers.

And then France gets its third dunk.

Are we in bizarro world here?

Bam. Maybe don’t try to shoot against Adebayo, who blocks a shot at one end and hits a turnaround jumper at the other end. That’s Adebayo’s second block already.

The highlight for the USA so far, at least offensively:

Fast break. 💨@KDTrey5 x #TokyoOlympicspic.twitter.com/6wSfcBmyhY

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 7, 2021

Cold. That’s the USA’s shooting right now. They’ve forced three turnovers, and that’s keeping them in it.

Or is it? Durant misses a 3-pointer, de Colo hits one at the other end, and it’s 10-4. The USA calls timeout with 5:28. They’re on pace to score less than 40 points in this game. That probably won’t happen, and we’d expect a big scoring run at some point. But when?

Durant makes his presence known. Bam Adebayo blocks a shot, France finds the ball and misses, and then Durant gets the rebound and goes coast-to-coast.

But the defense falters at the other end, and Yabusele finishes with France’s second dunk of the game. It’s 7-4.

USA 2-4 France: Lillard misses on a drive, de Colo posts up on Durant and scores, Holiday answers with a difficult layup, Fournier scores at the other end.

No, I’m not going to give an update after every basket. Just figured the opening was interest, particularly with de Colo posting up on Durant, who desperately wants to avoid foul trouble and, our commentators remind us, may be a little tentative defensively as a result.

Good start for the USA defense, as France is unable to get a shot away before the shot clock expires.

Starting lineups

USA: Lillard, Booker, Holiday, Durant, Adebayo

France: Fournier, De Colo, Yabusele, Batum, Gobert

From email: Oliver Stein asks who will step up if Durant and Damian Lillard aren’t on form.

The most obvious answer, with all Duke bias aside, is Jayson Tatum. But again, he’s obvious. He’s the second leading scorer on the team with 14.4 points per game.

In games like this, veterans sometimes overachieve, so I’ll go with Draymond Green, who hasn’t played a huge role so far but won gold in Rio in the midst of a majestic run with the Golden State Warriors.

Can the USA win without Mike Krzyzewski?

The Duke basketball coach for the past four decades was brought in to right the ship after the rest of the world caught up with the USA, which had opened the professional era with the dazzling “Dream Team” but looked quite ordinary with a sixth-place finish in the 2002 world championships and a bronze medal in 2004.

Coach K, as he’s called by people who want to save syllables or letters, coached the team to third place in the 2006 world championship. He didn’t lose again. Three gold medals, two world championships.

But he didn’t want to coach forever. He’s even stepping down from Duke at the end of the 2021-22 season.

The coach now is Gregg Popovich, everyone’s favorite grumpy grandpa if that grandpa had a heart of gold, a commitment to social justice and four NBA championships in a 25-year run as coach of the San Antonio Spurs.

The pressure on him has been palpable, and he has been a little snippy with reporters who view ‘Merican wins as a birthright. But he seems to have this team going in the right direction now.

Being a two-time Duke grad, I’m compelled to point out that another Duke coach, women’s coach Kara Lawson, led the women’s 3x3 team to gold.

NBC is showing last night’s track and field to warm us up for the big show. The strangest thing is how no one looks happy after crossing the finish line. They all look like they finished fifth rather than first.

Safe to say whoever wins tonight ... oops, this morning ... will strike a more triumphant pose.

Don’t make me watch this alone ...

Email me or tweet @duresport. Email tends to be a bit less toxic than Twitter, so I’d slightly prefer that.

July 25: France 83, USA 76

These teams met in the Olympic opener and reinforced the state of panic into which many USA fans had fallen after a rocky set of pre-Games exhibitions.

The USA had a solid eight-point lead at halftime. France had a big third quarter to lead by six. Then the USA came back and seemed to have everything in hand, leading 74-67 with 3:41 left. To say it all went wrong after that would be an understatement. France scored nine in a row to lead 76-74 with 57 seconds left.

After a sloppy sequence, Nando de Colo hit two free throw for a four-point lead. Then Damian Lillard lost the ball and fouled. Then another foul. Somehow, a 74-67 lead had turned into an 81-74 deficit. They traded free throws in one of those typically frustrating sequences in which “15 seconds” drags out to about three hours.

Teammate vs. teammate

When Durant looks at the French bench, he’ll see Brooklyn Nets teammate Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot.

The Boston Celtics are represented here by the USA’s Jayson Tatum and France’s Evan Fournier, the team’s leading scorer.

But this is not an all-NBA affair. France’s top assist man is Nando de Colo, who spent some time in the NBA but has gone on to success in the EuroLeague with CSKA Moscow and Fenerbahce.

Oh ... and he’s apparently quite valuable in the NBA as well ...

ESPN story on Brooklyn star Kevin Durant's plan to sign a four-year, $198M contract extension: https://t.co/Xq6jATGrzv https://t.co/cW0YlCO9qh

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 6, 2021

Nice of USA Basketball to sum up KD’s importance to this team in one tweet.

Well, part of it. Durant’s scoring is only part of it. Durant’s stats are only part of it. How often do you see a team this talented that still has one person putting that team on his back?

Three straight games scoring 23+

The first 🇺🇸 #USABMNT athlete to pass the 400 point mark in the Olympics

🙌 @KDTrey5 🙌 pic.twitter.com/S6Q4PPri8y

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 5, 2021

Welcome to the finale of one of the most compelling international basketball tournaments in memory. From Luka Doncic demonstrating that he may well be the best player in the world to Kevin Durant chasing history, this has been a thrill to watch.

And if you’re in the USA, you should be grateful that this game has been scheduled so you can watch at a halfway reasonable hour.

Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here is how the US got on in the semi-final:

Team USA progressed to the Tokyo 2020 men’s basketball gold medal game after downing a valiant Australia in their match-up on Thursday. It was heartbreak for the Boomers as they fell to their fifth Olympic semi-final defeat across five decades. The Australians must now regroup for the bronze medal clash on Saturday, as they continue their search for the nation’s first international medal in men’s basketball.

The Americans now face France, who beat them in the teams’ opening game, for gold. The French beat Slovenia 90-89 in a thrilling semi-final that went down to the last play.

Stretching back to 1964, Australia and the US have met eight times in Olympic competition. The closest the Boomers had come to defeating the Americans was two 10-point losses, in 2004 and 2016. Victories for Australia in a 2019 friendly and in a pre-Tokyo 2020 warm-up game last month offered some hope – as did a positive first-half performance. But ultimately the Americans’ star power was too much for the Patty Mills-led Boomers, losing 97-78.

Contributor

Beau Dure

The GuardianTramp

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