Team USA men’s basketball beats France to win fourth straight gold medal at Tokyo Olympics

Kevin Durant has had some wonderful days in his career, but there’s never been one like this green and gold Saturday in Japan.

First there was a new $198 million contract locked in with the Brooklyn Nets. Then the pride of Seat Pleasant, Maryland, extended his legendary status as one of America’s great Olympians with a masterpiece performance to lead Team USA to its fourth straight gold, 87-82 over France.

Durant’s greatness has been building throughout the Tokyo games, and he poured out his energy in the early going to relieve stress on his teammates. With the confidence, experience and tremendous blend of skills, there was just no way Durant was going to lose. He scored 21 of his 29 points in the first half.

It was the third time Durant has played in a gold-medal game, only deepening his resume.

France, which had beaten Team USA in both the 2019 World Cup and two weeks ago to open the Olympics with dominating fourth quarters, tried it again with a late kick. Trailing by 10 points at the start of the final quarter, they cut it to three points twice including with just 10 seconds to play.

With Durant tiring, there was a window where this could’ve been another bad ending. But this team, which lacked chemistry at times but never depth, had enough to finish the job.

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