Nothing to do. The dream team, because that's what it was, seals the deal. Stars and Stripes basketball's fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal. We can simply say that in the history of the modern Olympic Games, basketball is an “American affair”. Suffice it to say that in only four editions, the United States has failed to win the Olympic title. The discipline matches of the basketball players and the United States only went badly in 1972 and 1988, when the Soviets won, in 1980, when Yugoslavia won and in 2004, when Argentina won. The 26 points were not enough for the Galletti Wembanyama and the 20th Yabusele. On the other side it is Stephen Curry carrying the Dream Team on his shoulders with 24 points and 8 of 12 threes, in addition to the 15 points of Durant and Booker and the 14th Lebron.
Hug between the dream team players (@handle)
The wait outside and inside Bercy Arena for the French, and not only them, was that of the event of the year. Outside, we wait for the stars who have entered the hotel industry, including the sacred monsters of NBA basketball like Dirk Nowitzki, Scottie Pippen, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasolbut also on football like Thierry Henri who after losing yesterday's football final against Spain (another defeat for the French who would have wanted the gold medal in football) wanted to rush to support the French basketball team. And of course the French president Emmanuel Macron. Inside, a whole staircase filled with tricolor flags representing the French dream: to become the first basketball team to win the Olympic tournament on home soil beyond the sacred monsters of the USA team. But it happened a bit like the cycling era with Bartali's Italy, with angry French people and with French people who, reluctantly, must respect the players of the basketball elite. So, sitting on the metaphorical sidewalk, they must suffer defeat and settle for money.
LeBrond tries to stop Nicolas Batum (@handle)
On the floor, the best in the world, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curryon the other hand, the same France that three years ago in Tokyo made the NBA giants tremble (defeat only 87-82) but with a Wembanyama in addition to acting as a beacon. The Dream Team facing the Blues who dream big. Curry, Durant, LeBron in golden shoes for the occasion, Embiid and Booker the quintet chosen by Steve Kerr for the United States. Ntilikina, Wembanyama, Cordinier, Yabusele, Batum the fantastic five of the transalpines of Collar. “Appointment with history,” read a banner in the Arena shortly before the start of the final that Wembanyama had defined as the opportunity “of a lifetime” and who, before the Olympics, had not won gold like that. science fiction. The first quarter ended with the score 20-25 for the USA, still in the lead. In the second quarter, with LeBron eliminated, the United States conceded a score of 10-2 to the home team that put the ball on the line and went to 25-24 but the advantage did not last long, the United States even reaching the maximum difference of +10 (46-36) closing at 49-41. In the second half, the American lead increased, LeBron went on stage, grimacing at some refereeing decisions and the lack of glances that drove the Americans in the arena crazy. The third quarter ends at 72-66 USA but with the partial favorable to France (26-25), which gradually nibbles away at points against -5 in the first quarter. In the last quarter, the Transalpines get closer when LeBron and his teammates start to get angry, Wembanyama is dominant under the basket, the mistakes of the States do the rest and we arrive a few minutes with a gap of -3 (79-82) at 3' from the end.
Curry and LeBron (@handle)
That's when Curry takes over, scoring the impossible three-pointer and managing the final seconds before going to hug his wife and son to the tune of Michael Jackson's “Brat It.” The stars and stripes party can begin. Indeed, it's all over again, for the 17th time at the Olympics.
