Canadian fans might be annoyed with this particular head-to-head, but could there be a bigger matchup in the gold-medal game?
The U.S. being here always felt like a certainty, as Team USA general manager Grant Hill channelled his inner Nick Fury and assembled perhaps the most fearsome American squad to date, headlined by a ridiculous big three of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant.
Meanwhile, France hasn’t looked like a sure thing for the majority of its run to the final. But after huge wins over medal-favourites Canada and reigning FIBA world champs Germany, it has re-asserted its place on the world stage and has come alive with the tailwind of a thunderous home crowd propelling it forward.
The sure thing and the best program in the history of the sport, led by players hoping to gild legacies in gold, against an underdog crowd favourite, carried by the next face of basketball and a collection of step-it-up-when-it-counts role-players. The past against the future in a winner-take-all to decide who controls the present. Some stories write themselves.
The action tips off at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT, but here’s everything you need to know ahead of what should be a storied gold-medal game.
Is the U.S. … immortal?
For a solid 35 minutes there against Serbia, the Americans looked beatable. But then they remembered just who they are.
Down 15 going into the fourth, most teams would crumble. Most teams aren’t the U.S. It hadn’t sniffed the lead since the 6:02 mark in the first quarter, team play stopped working and it couldn’t string together a proper run. But it didn’t matter.
Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and LeBron James took over in ways only they can, proving once again that no three players have defined the sport over the past decade than they have.
The trio simply took the game into their own hands, with vintage three-pointers from Curry, deadly isolation middies from Durant and blistering transition buckets from James.
Most of the games at the Olympics have been cakewalks for the U.S., winning the four matchups before the semifinal by an average of 24.8 points. Though South Sudan, Puerto Rico and Brazil were never destined to put up much of a fight, the Americans have looked utterly convincing by not just beating, but crushing whoever has stood before them.
More than that, the buy-in from the entire team has made it all the more impressive, as star players, at times the best on their respective NBA teams, have been comfortable taking a back seat and playing a complementary style to best suit the rest of the team.
When Devin Booker — a 27-point per game scorer in the NBA last season — is comfortable playing off other ball and using most of his efforts on the defensive end, it shows a team willing to sacrifice the individual for the sake of the collective.
That’s where the U.S. stands. It’s fronted by three of the most definitive basketball players of the 21st century, complemented by a bevy of superstars that have suddenly become comfortable as glue guys.
If the team play doesn’t get going — similarly to the struggles in the first half against Serbia — the U.S. has an unbeatable ‘pull in case of emergency’ switch, activating three of the best players to have ever donned the stars and stripes. If those three show their age (which they haven’t done all tournament other than LeBron embracing his greys), then guys like Booker, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid and Anthony Edwards could have free rein to at last be unleashed.
The U.S. has a date with destiny and it’ll take a Doctor Strange-level of planning to figure out a way to get in its way now.
Not-so-bold prediction: There will be a ‘Last Dance’ style documentary about this game in 20 years.
Victor Wembanyama’s tall task
If Canada fans have learned anything from this tournament, it’s that as opposed to the NBA, superstars aren’t the biggest driving force in FIBA basketball.
France hasn’t gotten to the gold-medal game on the back of its big-name players. Rudy Gobert has been invisible, with head coach Vincent Collet choosing to sit the four-time NBA defensive player of the year. Evan Fournier looked good against Canada, but the days of FIBA Fournier are long past. And Victor Wembanyama has taken a serious step back in the knockout stages of the tournament.
Instead, Les Bleus are relying on the gritty but extremely unlikely contributions of guys like Guerschon Yabusele, Isaia Cordinier and Mathias Lessort.
The trio dominated Canada. Yabusele and Lessort outworked Canada down low, using mismatches at the four to draw fouls and beat up on the undersized Red and White forwards. While Cordinier, who scored 8.9 points on 36.1 per cent from three-point range this season with Virtus Bologna of the Italian league, has caught fire from long-range and is scoring 18 points per game over the last two.
That may have worked against Canada and Germany, but the U.S. is a different beast altogether. It’s time for Wembanyama to establish himself.
It’s asking a lot for a 20-year-old to carry a heavy load in the most important game of his young career, but the phenom has proven that he’s not one to shy away from his lofty expectations.
He was everything and more for France in the group stage, averaging 17.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.7 steals and was hitting 43.8 per cent of his three-pointers.
Since then, he’s averaging 9.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists while shooting a paltry 22.2 per cent from the field and 7.1 per cent from three-point range.
That simply can’t be the type of night Wemby has against the U.S. Though he’ll have to contend with the fearsome grouping of centres comprising Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo, he fared well in the NBA against them, averaging 25.2 points per game in five contests.
He’ll have a rowdy home crowd at his back, and hopefully some added incentive to dominate at the five after Embiid, France’s No. 1 public enemy, spurned the French team.
Wembanyama has already announced his presence on the world stage after a remarkable rookie season, but a dominant performance here, taking it to the faces of the league, would seriously expedite his already meteoric rise to the top. It could also create some seriously interesting conversations as to who the top five in the league are going into next season.
Fast Breaks
• Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Durant is set to slot into the starting lineup in place of Jrue Holiday, giving the American big three as much of a run as possible for the final.
• Surely that isn’t news to Jayson Tatum’s ears, as the reigning NBA Champ was stuck passing out Gatorade from the bench for a second game, logging zero minutes against Serbia in the semis.
• What’s going on with Gobert? The Stifle Tower has been a complete non-factor for France in the last two games, playing only nine minutes and finishing with a big old zero in his point totals.