Team USA will get another crack at beating France, this time in the most important game of them all. The two teams will face each other for the gold medal in the Toky0 2020 Olympics men’s basketball tournament. Will France win and be the defending champions in Paris in 2024? Or will Team USA add another gold to its collection? Check out our preview of this game below.
France will arrive in the gold medal game against Team USA after going undefeated in five games. Among the French’s victims in the tournament were the Americans, whom they took down in the opener to the tune of an 83-76 score. Evan Fournier came up big in that game, as he scored 28 points on 11/22 shooting from the floor. Fournier has been deadly in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he is averaging 18.3 points per game. Fournier is not without help and France isn’t just all about offense, though. In fact, four other players on France’s roster are averaging at least 9.0 points per game. Rudy Gobert will have to be on top of his game, patrolling the middle and getting rebounds to prevent Team USA from building momentum for a potential breakaway. Gobert had four blocks to go with 16 rebounds and nine points in France’s 90-89 win in the semis against Slovenia.
Team USA will not only be going for gold this Friday night but also revenge against France. As mentioned earlier, Team USA lost to Fournier and company in the first meeting. The Americans have gotten considerably better since plus people know how this team can be even more dangerous when it’s got baggage like that. Team USA has passed its past two tests against strong contenders, defeating Spain in the tail-end of group play, 95-81, then Australia in the semifinals, 97-78. Those were the acid tests for Team USA, and it dominating Spain and Australia sends a strong message to France. Kevin Durant is the leading scorer for Team USA. He is averaging 19.0 points, while Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard are putting up 12.0 and 11.0 points, respectively. Team USA is especially dangerous in turning opponents’ turnovers into points. It is averaging 22.0 points off turnovers per game and 17.6 fast break points per contest.
