Team USA men’s basketball team defeats France to win fourth consecutive gold

The US men’s basketball team won gold on Saturday, beating France 87-82 and securing their fourth straight gold in the sport. Kevin Durant, Team USA’s all-time top scorer, finished with 29 points and 6 rebounds.

With today’s victory, Durant won their third gold medal and Team USA takes revenge on the French team who beat them in the tournament opener. “We went through some adversity, we had unusual circumstances with COVID and the guys showed up late,” Durant said after the game. “France are a good team, they are not giving up, but we wanted them again, we wanted to play them again.”

Jayson Tatum, the 23-year-old star, also played a key role in the victory, accumulating 19 points and 7 rebounds. “That’s what we came for, it was winning or coming home. We knew the guys would be different every night and we figured that out,” Tatum said in a post-game interview.

But France did not go without a fight. At one point in the first half, they were behind by 13 points but fought back and reduced the lead to five before half-time. Rudy Gobert led France with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Utah Jazz center and three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year was a force in the paint on Saturday, and Evan Fournier, who torched the United States team in Game 1, scored 16 points.