PARIS: The United States won its fifth straight Olympic men's basketball crown on Saturday, holding off France 98-87 to take its Olympic gold medal haul to 17.
In a rematch of the Tokyo Olympic finals three years ago, LeBron James and a USA team loaded with NBA stars again proved too much for France despite the efforts of sensational NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama.
France cut a 14-point deficit to three with 3 minutes, 04 seconds left to come back on Wembanyama's putback dunk, but Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry hit a 3-pointer — one of his four with less than three minutes remaining — and the United States relentlessly to the end.
Stephen Curry celebrates with the US flag. (REUTERS)
Curry finished with eight 3-pointers — including a rainbow over a leaping Wembanyama — and led Team USA with 24 points.
“You just wonder,” James said of Curry. “When he's on your side, you just try to stop and find other ways at the other end, but keep finding him, keep getting the ball from him.”
Curry said of his late-game heroics, “I was just trying to calm us down.”
“All we wanted to do was make a good shot,” Curry said. “It's been a while since we've had good possession.
“(Finally) the momentum was on our side. At that point, your mind becomes blank. You don't really care about the setting or the script or anything else. It's just a shot.”
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker each scored 15 points, while James had 14 with six rebounds, 10 assists, a steal and a block.
For Durant, it was a record fourth Olympic gold for the United States. James earned his third, while Curry, a four-time NBA champion, earned his first in his first Olympic appearance.
“There's a lot of relief,” Curry said. “It wasn't easy, but damn, I'm excited, man. It's everything I wanted to see and more, so I'm really excited.”
Wembanyama had his best offensive game of the Olympics with 26 points. Gershon Yabusele added 20.
France connected on just nine of 30 three-point attempts, and the United States held a 31-9 advantage in fast break moments.
Both teams played defensively in a tight first half that saw 10 lead changes.
Wembanyama dunked to give France an 11-10 lead and sent the Bercy Arena crowd into a frenzy.
France's Victor Wembanyama in action. (REUTERS)
The Americans soon regained the lead when Booker took a behind-the-back pass from James and a steal from James that freed up Jayson Tatum for a dunk.
Down by five after one quarter, France led 25-24 on a Bilal Coulibaly dunk, but the U.S. continued to capitalize on French misses.
James drove through traffic, drew a foul and bent over the USA bench before making a free throw to give the United States a 37-31 lead and a 49-41 halftime lead.
The dream finale attracted a raft of lights. French President Emmanuel Macron was in the house, as was sprint star Sha'Kari Richardson, a day after she anchored the US 4x100m relay to gold.
James made his intentions known early by stepping onto the court in gold shoes and opening the scoring with a dunk.
Curry, who scored 36 points in the semifinal win over Serbia, heated up in the second half, giving the USA its biggest lead of the game, 61-47, with a 3-pointer early in the third.
France continued to press and trailed just six times early in the fourth quarter, but finally had to watch the American players celebrate at the end, draped in flags.
A dejected Vembanyama could only hug his teammates, but with a silver medal around his neck, he described the experience as “incredible” and said he would try to repay them in Los Angeles in 2028.
“In four years I will go for gold,” he said.
Earlier on Saturday, Serbia claimed bronze with a 93-83 win over World Cup champion Germany.
Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic had a triple-double of 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to lead Serbia to a 95-91 semifinal loss to the United States.
