Major events
mail bag
Luis Sayas: “It’s time to limit the number of professional athletes to a maximum of two per country for the Olympics. It has been twenty years since the idea of bringing global recognition to the game was born. It has been achieved. “
If basketball can make its World Cup an approximation of the soccer World Cup, then maybe. But for some reason America finds it hard to pay much attention to that match.
Ben Corntassel wants to know who’s referring to today. With team leader Antonio Conte (Spain), Julio Anaya (Panama) and Wojciech Liska (Poland). Anaya was on the team for the USA’s victory over Serbia.
Halftime: USA 49-41 France
Cordinier drew an offensive foul far from the basket on Holliday. Fournier missed and Holiday hit a 3 for immediate revenge.
Vembanyana feeds the outstanding Yabusele for a layup at the buzzer.
What half!
USA 46-39 France, 0:49 Left, 2nd Quarter: Adebayo commits a second foul, sending Yabusele to the line for two. Davies returns to the game while Adebayo sits.
Yabusele scored first but missed again but this time, Wembanyana grabbed the rebound and scored.
USA 46-36 France, 1:32 left, 2nd quarter: Will that slam give France some momentum?
Not immediately. Curry hit another 3. Then LeBron gets a steal and feeds Booker, who puts it in despite Fournier fouling him from behind.
Booker leads by double digits on free throws.
USA 40-36 France, 2:13 left, 2nd quarter: LeBron makes the free throw – the first on either team!
Adebayo fouled Yabusele with one second left on the shot clock. Now France will have their first free throws. Three of them, actually. He makes the first two and misses the third.
Booker missed the 3 as he fell out of bounds. De Colo also misses and Durant hits a long one.
Yabusele works inside and slams on LeBron who is called for a foul. Alas. Also makes free throws.
USA 36-31 France, 3:26 left, 2nd quarter: De Colo scored, but LeBron simply drove the length of the court, put it in and was fouled.
Time is up France.
USA 34-29 France, 3:59 left, 2nd quarter: Booker misses this time, but Adebayo gets the rebound and some nifty passes leave one of the best shooters in history, Stephen Curry, open for a 3.
Yabusele scored inside. Adebayo steps in for a nice dunk.
Now we’ve got players facing off at midcourt.
USA 29-27 France, 4:41 left, 2nd quarter: Bam Adebayo is the USA vice-four player. Their first possession results in a shot-clock violation.
Adebayo plays good D in Wembania.
Miss, miss, miss, then LeBron grabs a defensive rebound and drives a hard layup against Vembaniana.
Vembanaya answer at the other end of the post.
Booker advanced to a 3.
USA 24-25 France, 7:10 left, 2nd leg: Durant misses, and then Coulibaly and Strasel do a give-and-go for a Coulibaly dunk.
Time is up America.
USA 24-23 France, 7:47 left, 2nd leg: Davis blocks a shot and takes a feed from Holiday for the score.
Legal in FIBA and illegal in the NBA – Vembaniana with a putback slam.
Davis gets a rebound and a dunk.
Finally another 3 for France – Yabusele.
Veteran Nando De Colo will make an appearance.
Durant missed, and Strasel Banks made a 3. Suddenly the lead was down from seven to one.
Could this be the best series of seven? It is wonderful to see.
France is on the rebound at 13-10, but is 1-of-9 from 3-point range. USA scored nine points in conversion.
Vembaniana seven – four other players two each.
Booker has seven; Six for Edwards.
1st quarter result: USA 20-15 France
Since the timeout, Vembaniana comes back and LeBron takes his first break.
Coulibaly scored in after Gobert posted against Tatum – hey, it wasn’t a dunk!
Vembaniana rushes the 3-pointer. Fournier also hits the front of the rim.
Edwards steps back and hits a 3.
USA 17-13 France, 1:59 left, 1st quarter: Steal by James, over Curry, then Tatum for a transition slam.
Fournier has to shoot from almost midcourt to beat the shot clock. He misses, but so does Tatum from the corner.
Gobert gets a dunk inside – are France’s points all 3s and dunks?
Edwards hit a 3 with a steal, to Davis, then back to Edwards, who saw the defense retreat.
Time is up France.
USA 12-11 France, 4:01 left, 1st leg: Durant draws a foul from Gobert. Reminder: International basketball has five fouls, not six like in the NBA.
Jayson Tatum didn’t play against Serbia, but he does now. In the final in Tokyo, he put on an impressive performance against France.
USA 12-11 France, 4:52 left, 1st leg: 7 points already for Vembania.
James then made a slick pass to Booker for 2.
Vembanyana will take a break. Rudy Gobert arrives. This is a talented team.
USA 10-11 France, 6:14 left, 1st leg: He hits Vembanaiyan inside.
Curry had his second turnover in a minute. Vembayana tried 3 more times and missed.
Ntilikina Durant takes exception.
Yabusele goes up in transition, but James hits it.
And Durant hit a 3.
Booker scores in conversion. But then Yabusele slams in a feed from Vembaniana, Curry misses a 3, and Vembaniana scores in transition.
USA 5-5 France, 8:50 left, 1st leg: Miss every which way to start, then a feed to James in transition for the first points of the game.
Vembanayana answers 3. Booker answers.
Batum gets a pushback slam.
Note: America took over.
Beginners
France: Ntilikina, Cordinier, Batum, Yabusele, Wembanyana
USA: Curry, Booker, Durant, James, Embiid
It’s gold for American women in 4×4. far away
Athletes have done their part to win medals. Over to you, LeBron and company.
But medal count is one thing – this, as I said in the introduction, is a sport we should enjoy. It could be a classic.
Number of medals
The U.S. has won the total medal count at these Olympics by a large margin, and a system that weighs gold more heavily than silver or bronze will likely favor the 2028 host nation.
But for some reason we say only gold medals matter. Apparently, no one said Shelby McEwenHe agreed to jump off after tying for first place and winning a silver medal in the high jump.
The U.S. edged China 38-36 with two gold medals. China still only has a fair shot at the two – they’re in the women’s middleweight boxing final (later today), and they’re favored in the women’s heavyweight weightlifting (tomorrow).
That means America must seize the opportunities that remain. This is one of those opportunities. Others are track cycling women’s omnium, women’s volleyball final, women’s 76kg wrestling final and women’s basketball final.
But first, the women’s 4x400m relay has to finish before the Games even begin. If they keep it up.
who is who
France
Seniors captain and small forward Nicholas Bottom (age 35, Philadelphia), point guard Andrew Albisi (34, Herbalife Gran Canaira/ESP), center Rudy Gobert (32, Minnesota) and sniper guard Nando de Colo (37, LDLC ASVEL/FRA).
Other NBA players: Vembaniana (San Antonio), Evan Fournier (Detroit), Bilal Coulibaly (Washington). The latter is the youngest in the team at 19 years old.
America
LeBron James (LA Lakers) Age 39, not shown. Stephen CurryThe captain is 36 years old. Kevin Durant (Phoenix) Age 35, Jury vacation (Boston) 34, and Joel Embiid (Philadelphia) and Derrick White (Boston) Both are 30 years old.
Coach Steve Kerr Controversially placed Jayson Tatum (Boston) on the bench for a lot of matches. Dyers Halliburton (Indiana) also has less playing time.
Heads of state (per game)
France
points
Vembaniyama 13.8
12.8 remaining
Gardiner 10.6
Fournier 10.2
recovers
Vembanayama 10.2 (second among all teams)
Cobert 4.2
helps
Nature 3.6
Degree 2.4
Blocks
Vembanyama 2.0 (First)
Gobert 1.6 (sixth)
Batam 1.0
steals
Vembanyama 2.2 (First)
Gardiner 1.4
America
points
James 14.2
Edwards 13.8
Durant 13.6
Curry 13.0
Embiid 13.0
helps
James 8.2 (second)
Vacation 3.5
Booker 3.4
recovers
James 7.0
Davis 6.2
Tatum 6.0 (in limited playing time)
Blocks
Embiid 1.3 (sixth)
turnover
James 3.8 (fourth)
3-pointers
Curry 2.8 (seventh)
Durant 2.2
Booker 2.2
Foreword
We all loved this ending, right?
A star-studded U.S. team, with a handful of players going one more round at the Olympics. And then a very talented French team, perhaps the best young player in the world Victor VembaniamaPlaying in front of a lively home crowd.
And both teams have shown plenty of resilience to get to this point, so there’s no reason to think it’s game over if one team takes a double-digit lead.
Welcome to one of the most anticipated events of these games and with good reason.
Beauty will soon be with you. Meanwhile, here’s Brian Graham on the hostile atmosphere that greets the U.S. when facing the host nation:
The Americans understand that France will pose a different challenge in a uniquely hostile environment inside the cauldron-like Percy Arena, where the hosts became the first team to win men’s basketball gold on home soil since the United States in 1996. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for aspiring Victor Vembanyama, who has not overnight joined Leon Marchant, Teddy Rainer, Antoine Dupont and the Lebrun brothers as icons of the Paris Olympics, but occupied a vast folk hero. The pantheon of Cerdon, Hinault, Gilli and Zidane, who beat the 17-time Olympic champions before the closing ceremony.
“We expect them to play the game of their lives,” Olympic debutant Steph Curry said. “They’re going to feed off the home-court adrenaline and they’re riding a huge momentum after these last two games. We have to expect them to play well, but expect that from us as well.
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