The United States men’s basketball team has done it again.
Despite all the obstacles of building a roster following a COVID-19 impacted NBA season, despite early struggles in exhibition games, despite even a rare loss in the group stage, the end result was the same as it’s been for the previous three Olympics: Gold.
Team USA finally did Saturday what it could not do when it played France nearly two weeks ago, closing out a 87-82 victory with some well-timed jumpers after France had cut the deficit to just three points with 5:40 left.
“We went through some real adversity. We just fought though everything,” Kevin Durant said. “It meant a lot. France is a good team, they don’t quit. They’re a big team. They presented a big challenge. But we wanted them again. We wanted to play them again.”
Unlike their first meeting, when France left the Americans shell-shocked after an 83-76 victory, the U.S. responded immediately as Damian Lillard made a pair of long 2-point jumpers and Jrue Holiday got a steal and a dunk to keep their team out of danger.