The Americans suffered a lot against Serbia, as did the hosts against Germany.
Madrid, August 8 (European Press) –
The United States and France will play in the men’s Olympic basketball final on Saturday at the Accor Arena in Paris after Thursday’s semifinal wins over Serbia (95-91) and Germany (73-69).
Paris 2024 will have the same final as Tokyo 2020, although the gold medalists were closer than others. Serbia had a historic win in their hands in a basketball ode, scoring 17 points in the first half and maintaining a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
LeBron James (16 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists) and Steph Curry (36 points) led the Dream Team in search of a fifth straight Olympic gold medal. It wasn’t just Serbia that played in the friendly against the Americans two weeks before the Games. Svetislav Pesic’s men stifled the NBA stars with their defense, and they had Nigola Jokic (17 points, 11 assists) and the competitive gene of Bogdan Bogdanovic (20) who dealt with LeBron while he was shooting at you.
In addition, Aleksa Avramovic put the USA in check with 15 points in the first half, and the only opponent to respond was Curry, who put the maximum 17 points above the Serbs. The USA team responded but the third quarter was also canceled, with the last appearance of Marko Guduric (76-63).
However, the American push ended up tightening the score as LeBron, Curry, Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant wrapped up the win despite his poor day. It left Serbia completely helpless and without revenge for losing the Rio 2016 final to the Americans, who are now bidding for the bronze medal with Germany.
The gold medal will be played between the United States and France, as it was three years ago. The hosts also got a dose of suspense against the world champions who undoubtedly sold their skin dearly. The Gauls initially forgot about the great defensive strength that had brought them back to the Olympic final and Germany began to advance.
Vincent Coulé’s team gathered their strength, as did Isaiah Cordinier (16 points) and Gershon Yabusile (17), and after the break, they sought to strengthen the game with a good start from Victor Wembanyama. The new NBA star almost ended the referee with seven minutes to go, but from the three-pointer that ended, Germany kept (69-63) from great uncertainty.
A three-pointer from Franz Wagner, who had been absent since the first quarter, confirmed Germany’s intentions with less than a minute to go, but the German player himself later lost the ball for an inexplicable reason. Cordinier, one of France’s surprise packages who had managed to bounce back after the defeat to Germany in the third game, secured the win from the own line.
“Lifelong travel trailblazer. Food nerd. Award-winning music enthusiast. Twitter guru.”