Steph Curry again came to the rescue for Team USA, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers in the game's closing two minutes. He finished with 24 points overall on 8-for 13 shooting from 3.
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker each added 15 points for the U.S., followed by 14 points, 10 assists and six rebounds from LeBron James. Anthony Davis led both teams with 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Three-pointers were a big difference in Team USA winning gold. As a team, the U.S. shot 50% (18-for-36) from 3. By comparison, France shot 30% (9-for-30) from behind the arc.
Durant won his fourth gold medal, the most in Olympics men's basketball history. James also earns his fourth Olympic medal, with three golds and a bronze.
For the host country, Victor Wembanyama scored a game-high 26 points with seven rebounds. Guerschon Yabusele followed with 20 and Nando De Colo added 12. Nicolas Batum grabbed eight rebounds.
The United States wins its fifth consecutive gold medal with a 98–87 win over France. Steph Curry again lifts Team USA to a win with 24 points and three consecutive 3-pointers to clinch the game.
Victor Wembanyama hits a 3 for France to cut USA's lead to six. But Steph Curry follows up with a high-arching shot over a double-team for his third straight 3-pointer.
After France twice cut the U.S. lead to six points, first on a jumper from Nando De Colo, then a three by Nicolas Batum, Curry answered both scores with 3-pointers.
USA 93, France 84 with 1:14 left.
Ian Casselberry
USA 87, France 79
Kevin Durant makes two free throws after rebounding a missed Victor Wembanyama three. USA builds its lead back up to eight and France calls timeout with 2:22 remaining in the game.
Ian Casselberry
Big 3 from Steph Curry
France cuts USA's to three, 82–79, with Victor Wembanyama tipping in his own miss.
Steph Curry follows up with a 3-pointer to stop France's run and restore USA's lead to 89–75.
The U.S. and France each trade two turnovers, both of Team USA's by LeBron James.
LeBron then commits a foul after another turnover, this one by Steph Curry, stopping Guerschon Yabusele from a dunk.
Yabusele makes one of two free throws. France cuts USA's lead to 82
Ian Casselberry
Jrue Holiday with another 3 for Team USA
Devin Booker rebounds a LeBron James miss and finds Jrue Holiday for a 3-pointer and an 80–69 USA lead.
Ian Casselberry
Kevin Durant beats the shot clock with a 3
Kevin Durant tried to take Mattias Lessort one-on-one before dishing off to Jrue Holiday. Holiday draws a double-team with Lessort trying to help as the shot clock winds down. Holiday passes to Durant for a long 3 with the shot clock expiring.
USA 77, France 68.
Ian Casselberry
Third quarter: USA 72, France 66
Evan Fournier hits a 3, followed by a steal and layup from Nando De Colo. Kevin Durant blocked the shot, but goaltending was called to count the basket. There IS goaltending under FIBA rules, folks.
The U.S. takes a 72–66 lead into the fourth quarter.
Ian Casselberry
Anthony Edwards dunks a lob from Kevin Durant
More from Anthony Davis, who gets a steal and an outlet to Kevin Durant. With a two-on-one break, fans knew a lob was coming and Durant got the ball to Anthony Edwards for a fast-break dunk.
Growing up Anthony Edwards favorite player was Kevin Durant and KD just threw ANT a lob in a gold medal game🥲
France has cut the USA lead to 65–56 on a Victor Wembanyama 3-pointer. Timeout for the U.S.
Ian Casselberry
France had a chance to cut the margin to eight points after Steph Curry turns it over. But Bilal Coulibaly can't convert a layup. Joel Embiid gets an outlet pass to LeBron James for a dunk.
Joel Embiid to an open LeBron James for the SLAM. 🇺🇸😤
No word on whether or not the France delegation will ride in that shoe during the closing ceremony on Sunday.
Ian Casselberry
Technical foul on Anthony Davis
Initially, it looked as if Joel Embiid might have been whistled for getting tangled up with Rudy Gobert.
But referees called a technical foul on Anthony Davis for standing on the corner of the court from the bench as the ball was being inbounded.
Ian Casselberry
LeBron, Curry pick and roll
Steph Curry sets a slip-screen for LeBron James. As France doubles LeBron, he finds Curry for an open three. USA 61, France 47 with 6:57 remaining in the third quarter.
Curry has 12 points on 4–for-8 shooting from 3.
Steph Curry hits the shimmy after draining another three. 👨🍳🇺🇸
USA coach Steve Kerr is going to ride his three stars. LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant aren't coming out. No games left in the Olympics after this gold medal match. They have the rest of the summer to rest.
Ian Casselberry
Second half is underway
Kevin Durant arcs a mid-range jumper over Victor Wembanyama to restore Team USA's 10-point lead, 51–41.
Ian Casselberry
Halftime: USA 49, France 41
Guerschon Yabusele gets a layup at the buzzer to close France to an eight-point margin at halftime, 49–41.
Yabusele leads France with 15 points, followed by Victor Wembanyama's 13.
Team USA is led by Devin Booker's 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting (2-for-3 from 3). LeBron James has seven, while Anthony Edwards, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant each have six.
Ian Casselberry
3-point shooting a big difference
Jrue Hoilday hits a 3 to put the U.S. back up by 10, 49–39. Team USA is shooting 45% (9-for-20) from 3, while France is struggling at 19% (3-for-16).
Ian Casselberry
USA opens up 10-point lead
A 3-pointer from Steph Curry and 3-point play by Devin Booker (foul on Evan Fournier) helps the U.S. open up its biggest lead of the game, 46–36.
Ian Casselberry
Guerschon Yabusele with the poster
Guerschon Yabusele dunks over LeBron James and draws the foul. France's bench and the home crowd erupt. USA still in front, 40–36.
Team USA roars back, outscoring France 12–6 to build a five-point lead. LeBron James scored four during the run, with 3s from Steph Curry and Devin Booker. France calls timeout.
A Bilal Coulibaly dunk puts France on top, 25–24. France has scored the last eight points and the U.S. calls timeout.
Ian Casselberry
France heating up from 3
Guerschon Yabusele and Matthew Strasel hit back-to-back 3s for France. Strasel's 3 banked in.
Ian Casselberry
1st quarter: USA 20, France 15
Great pace after one quarter of play. The U.S. leads, 20–15.
Devin Booker leads Team USA with seven points, followed by six from Anthony Edwards.
Victor Wembanyama also has seven points for France.
One thing to keep an eye on is France's 3-point shooting, Only 1-for-9 from behind the arc in the first.
Ian Casselberry
LeBron's no-look pass
There have been plenty of dunks so far in this gold medal game, but LeBron James provides an early highlight with a slick no-look, behind the back pass to Devin Booker in the lane.
Team USA takes a 16–13 lead with 1:59 remaining in the first quarter on an Anthony Edwards three.
France calls timeout, presumably to review whether Edwards was behind the line. France coach Vincent Collet may also be giving his guys a breather amid a fast pace.
Ian Casselberry
Jayson Tatum scores
Off a steal by LeBron James, Steph Curry gets the ball up the court to Jayson Tatum for a breakaway dunk and a 14–11 USA lead.
Ian Casselberry
Jayson Tatum sighting
Jayson Tatum enters the game for Team USA. He figures to see more playing time against a bigger France lineup with 7-footers Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, along with Guerschon Yabusele in the frontcourt
Ian Casselberry
Rudy Gobert comes into the game for France and Kevin Durant tries to take him one-on-one. That could be a matchup the U.S. tries to exploit
Ian Casselberry
James block leads to Durant 3
LeBron James blocks a Guerschon Yabusele layup attempt and Kevin Durant follows up with a 3 to give USA an 8–7 lead.
Ian Casselberry
Sizzling start for both teams
LeBron James opens the scoring with a dunk, followed by Victor Wembanyama nailing a 3.
Devin Booker answers with a 3 for USA before France pushes up the court resulting in a dunk for Nicolas Batum.
Ian Casselberry
Kevin Durant going for four
Kevin Durant could become the first U.S. men's basketball player to win four gold medals with a victory over France on Saturday.
He's not counting, but we are.
Kevin Durant could become the first 🇺🇸 #USABMNT athlete to win four Olympic gold medals.
LeBron James would also earn a fourth medal, having previously won two golds and a bronze.
During these Olympics, Durant became Team USA's all-time leading Olympic scorer, passing Lisa Leslie's 488 points. Durant has 502 going into the matchup with France.
Ian Casselberry
Joel Embiid faces France fans one last time
Joel Embiid has been a persistent target of boos and jeers during the Paris Olympics, having chosen to play for the United States rather than France or Cameroon.
He trolled the fans during the win over Puerto Rico in group play and danced after the thrilling semifinal victory over Serbia, making the DX "suck it" chop. That's apparently a theme for Embiid going into Saturday's gold medal game.
Joel Embiid, on what he expects from the French crowd tomorrow:
“They’re going to boo me, I’m going to go back at them and tell them to suck it.”
The fans at Paris' Bercy Arena are ready for a "rendezvous with history" as a banner in the stands says:
Two hours before tipoff of the men’s basketball gold medal game between the USA and France, a huge banner stretches across three sections of seats at Bercy Arena in Paris: “Rendez-vous avec l’histoiry” pic.twitter.com/VE2CWjh0O5
Thus far, the history between the United States and France in men's basketball is a 6–1 record for Team USA. That includes a U.S. 87–82 victory in the Tokyo Olympics' gold medal game four years ago.
Team USA starting lineup
As The Athletic's Shams Charania reported Friday night, USA coach Steve Kerr plans to start Kevin Durant in the gold medal game vs. France. Jrue Holiday will come off the bench as a result.
Team USA is planning to start all-time leading scorer Kevin Durant vs. France in Saturday's Gold Medal game at the Paris Olympics, per sources. Jrue Holiday is expected to come off the USA bench. pic.twitter.com/UrYgyhyTUY
France has not yet announced its starting lineup. Coach Vincent Collet replaced Rudy Gobert with Victor Wembanyama before the quarterfinal matchup with Canada for a small-ball lineup and stuck with it versus Germany.
France stats: The Victor Wembanyama show
Victor Wembanyama leads France in points (13.8), rebounds (10.2) and assists (3.6) per game during the Olympic men's basketball tournament.
France coach Vincent Collet replaced Rudy Gobert with Wembanyama before the quarterfinal matchup with Canada. The small-ball lineup resulted in wins over Canada and Germany.
Additionally, Guerschon Yabusele and Isaïa Cordinier are more familiar with FIBA-style basketball, and helped to create more spacing and playmaking around Wembanyama.
As is tradition, the medal table is ordered by the number of golds achieved by each team. At Tokyo 2020, China led the Paralympics field with 96 golds, with Great Britain second on 41 and the United States third with 37. If any countries tie on the medal table, bronze and silver medals are then taken into account.
Arsenal have been dealt a huge blow ahead of the north London derby after captain Martin Odegaard was carried off the pitch in tears after suffering an ankle injury.
Ashley Cole will take his place on the bench at Wembley on Tuesday as the most-capped England footballer in history to sit among the manager’s staff, with the exception of David Beckham’s 2010 World Cup sinecure as part coach, part mascot.
Paris is to honour murdered Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei by naming a sports venue after her, according to the French capital's Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Cheptegei, who competed in the women's marathon during the Paris Olympics last month, succumbed to severe burns on Thursday after being doused with petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend at her home in Kenya. At the weekend, Hidalgo told reporters: "She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it wa
Malaysia concluded the Paris Paralympics with five medals – two gold, two silver and one bronze. Although it was Malaysia’s worst outing in eight years, Paralympic Council Malaysia (PCM) president Datuk Seri Megat D Shahriman Zaharudin hopes the government will consider its RM50 million funding request to run its development programmes.
Taylor Fritz was eager before the U.S. Open final on Sunday, entertaining thoughts of winning his first Grand Slam title — and the first for any American man since Andy Roddick earned the 2003 trophy at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Didn't happen for Fritz or his country, and the drought continues. Fritz never really produced his best tennis until the third set, and that was only briefly.
Time is running out for appeals to be filed in the case that exonerated U.S. Open champion Jannik Sinner from doping. The World Anti-Doping Agency and Nado Italia, Italy’s anti-doping agency, likely have only a few more days to challenge the decision announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Aug. 20. Sinner tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March but was not suspended because the ITIA determined the banned performance-enhancer entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist.
Dan Ashworth and other former members of Newcastle United’s recruitment team have been hurt and bemused by claims from new sporting director Paul Mitchell that the club’s transfer structure was “not fit for purpose”.
Even after winning her first U.S. Open championship for a third Grand Slam title, Aryna Sabalenka made clear she doesn't consider herself a finished product. Sabalenka reminded everyone with her 7-5, 7-5 victory over Jessica Pegula at Flushing Meadows in the final Saturday that she is as good as it gets on hard courts these days. The No. 2-ranked Sabalenka is 27-1 on that surface at majors over the past two seasons, with two Australian Open trophies in that span and a run to the 2023 U.S. Open final before losing to Coco Gauff.
China’s Football Association has banned 43 people for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption in the latest effort to weed out graft in the country’s notoriously underperforming team sport. The official Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday reported that Zhang Xiaopeng, a top police official, attended a news conference at Dalian to release details of a “two-year investigation that uncovered a series of online gambling, match-fixing and bribery cases.” Xinhua said 120 matches in domestic leagues, 128 criminal suspects, and 41 clubs were implicated in the investigation.
Hundreds of spectators gathered today (sun) to watch competitors battle it out in the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships, The annual competition held in Ramsbotton, Lancs, sees rivals battle it out to knock traditional Yorkshire and Lancashire black puddings off a 20ft high plinth. The quirky northern tradition sees rivals battle it out for supremacy by throwing Lancashire black pudding slices at one dozen Yorkshire puddings - with each competitor taking three turns to knock as many off as possible. The event is said to have been inspired by a 1455 battle in nearby Stubbins during the War of the Roses, fought by the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The two sides are said to have run out of ammunition during the bloody rivalry so resorted to throwing food at each other.
Olympic sponsor Panasonic is terminating its contract with the IOC at the end of the year, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Panasonic is one of 15 companies that are so-called TOP sponsors for the International Olympic Committee. It's not known the value of the Panasonic sponsorship, but sponsors contribute more than $2 billion in a four-year cycle to the IOC.