Alejandro Avila
Videos by OutKick
It’s always great to see a Big 4 sport from the United States win on a global stage.
What Team USA Basketball accomplished against France was not only an exceeding of expectations — beating the international team, 87-82, to mark the USA’s fourth consecutive gold medal in basketball — but a continuation of the resiliency motif that the Americans showcased throughout the tournament. Led by tremendous performances from Kevin Durant.
Durant scored 29 points against France and kept Team USA with their foot on the gas throughout the contest. At the half, Durant and the team led by five but were tasked with having to answer for France’s Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert — the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Fournier finished with 16 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Gobert put in 16 points on offense and was the typical blockade in the paint.
Reaching the fourth quarter with an eight-point advantage, 71-63, Team USA’s Jrue Holiday and Jayson Tatum proved their salt with dependable scoring to keep the team ahead, while Draymond Green and Bam Adebayo equally flexed some muscle on defense to stunt Fournier and Gobert’s impact in the final minutes.
Without the requisite names to use the old formula of Team USA Basketball — which was to blow teams out by halftime — the ‘B’ squad of the NBA still managed to give an ‘A’ performance when it mattered most. They understood how to use their momentum to close out victories against stiff competition and stuck to it en route to gold.
While the team encountered a rough start to the Games with its consecutive exhibition losses to Nigeria and Australia, the squad’s rallying efforts — spearheaded by all-time Olympics great Kevin Durant — pushed them past their final game against France to secure the golden honors for the United States.
Durant earned his third Olympics gold medal, tying Carmelo Anthony for most by an American player.
Team USA Basketball
Bam Adebayo
Devin Booker
Bradley Beal
Kevin Durant
Jerami Grant
Draymond Green
Jrue Holiday
Keldon Johnson (did not play)
Zach LaVine
Damian Lillard
Kevin Love (did not play)
JaVale McGee
Khris Middleton
Jayson Tatum
Follow along on Twitter: @AlejandroAveela
Honestly, I would be shocked if we didn’t win gold in basketball.
Yawn and yawn. And yawn. I expect to win every game by 40. I was excited for Xander. Much more competition than in basketball.
Congratulations to Team USA 🇺🇸. Way to win the Gold and way to stick a GIANT MIDDLE FINGER to the establishment. This is why WE love sports. People can take all the big boy shit you want to. What are you going to when you have another GROWN ASS MAN to compete against? Tucker Carlson, Clay Travis and Fox News can’t save your punk ass in the sports world. Just bring your ass and we’ll doing the KICKING . WAY TO GO TEAM USA. Real Americans were rooting for you. The Fascist Right loses again #GoodTrouble #BLM
Trump WON.
This makes absolutely no sense, we are all dumber for having read your post. Writing in caps makes you sound dumb not smarter. My high school chemistry and German teacher used to say, the loudest in the room is usually the dumbest. You must be that guy. I would love to play you in any sport. Let’s make this happen.
And the racism come out again. Somehow this goes right back to skin tone for this person.
Giant middle finger to the establishment….?
LoL.. The “establishment”.. AKA corporate news media, sports media, social media/big tech, all 3 branches of government, leadership of every major city, CIA/FBI, the Clintons/Bushs/Obamas, the Gates/Bezos, the entertainment industry… I can’t put a finger on what they all have in common
Don’t forget teachers, higher education, advertising, fashion, NASDAQ, basically every mouthpiece in North America except AM radio, a handful of Southern ministers and some high school football coaches. It’s truly embarrassing that they don’t win federal elections by a landslide every time. There is no excuse. Their ideas must just fucking suck.
I stand corrected lol
Missed mentioning. Had this post ended after the first sentence it would have been a great post…
Congratulations to Team USA 🇺🇸.
Done, very nice post, couldn’t agree more.
Way to beat Fucking France by 5 buddy. They killed it. Also who are these “real Americans” you speak of , those the ones who burnt down half of the major cities in America last summer and looted Gucci, Apple, Nike and every other designer store. Or was it one of those “real Americans” that broke into a pawn shop and killed David Dorn. Yeah y’all are some real Americans, who should be locked up for the rest of your lives.
Yep, that’s what they do best, burn, loot, murder. Oh yeah, the men also have kids that they abandon as soon as possible. But that’s after they beat their women first.
No one here likes you or cares about your opinions. You’re a loser.
News flash bro. YOU are the establishment now.
zzzzzzzzzz
Mason Mauler / ball don’t lie. Biggest loser on the planet behind Colin Kaepernick and lebron James.
I don’t even read his idiocy anymore, just a cut and paste response. The guy lives such a sad life.
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_1165/e75431dba1ba55954007d670bb635fba.jpg
Glad our fellas won the gold! Way to go guys!! Go team USA!!
Our fellas? They hate you, and me, and America. No thank you.
Wonder if China gets a gold medal for this performance too?
NBA is dead to me as are the people who play on the Olympic team.
I barely cared enough to click the link and type this
Lmbao… AWM wanted Team USA to lose and they won the Gold anyway while REAL AMERICANS root on other Americans. I hope it hurts so bad… If the VERY Fine MAGA People don’t like it. Form your own MAGA basketball team and 4 X 100 Relay Maga squad. Say hello to LAST PLACE… IJMFS
Have you been watching the olympics? In case you missed it, unfortunately the USA men’s 4×100 relay team didn’t even make the finals. Just a thought, dropping the racism in life might make you far happier.
Racism? This is sports. That shit doesn’t work in a MERITOCRACY. Clay, Tucker, Breitbart Gab. Parlor and MAGA can’t save you in between the white lines. It’s really that simple. Out there you belong to US.
We got the swimming pool hahahaha on da strengf!
Haha, yep. The low IQ group sink like rocks.
Who is “us”? Who is “you”? Can you explain how being racist solves racism?
Who are you referring to as you and us?
And yes, racism. Judging people based on the tone of their skin is racism. Maybe consider letting go of it, it would likely lead to a much happier and more fulfilling life.
Many more blacks are bigoted against whites than the other way around. In fact, blacks are the most racist of any group of people. Several studies have demonstrated that.