The final and the match for the “bronze” will be held on August 10.
On Thursday, August 8, the semi-final matches of the men's basketball tournament of the 2024 Olympics.
The teams of France and USA reached the final of the Games in Paris.
In the first semi-final, the French defeated the current world champions, the German team, with a score of 73:69.
The top scorer of the match was German Dennis Schroeder, who scored 18 points. However, the next highest scorers were three Frenchmen – Guershon Yabusele (17), Isaiah Cordinier (16) and Victor Wembanyama (11), which allowed the Olympic hosts to reach the final.
The second semi-final was even more dramatic. The Americans, who brought a bunch of stars to these Olympic Games, almost lost to the Serbian team. The match ended with a score of 95:91 in favor of the US team, which made a stunning comeback in the last quarter.
After the third period, Steve Kerr's team was losing by 13 points, but they managed to turn the game around and snatch victory. The savior of the American team was Steph Curry, who became the best player of the match with 36 points, hitting 9 of 14 three-pointers. Joel Embiid and LeBron James earned 19 and 16 points respectively for the USA, and Kevin Durant finished the game with 9 points. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 20 points for the Serbians, and team leader Nikola Jokic scored 17.
LeBron James recorded a triple-double (16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists) in the game against Serbia, setting a unique record. “The King” became the first basketball player in history to record multiple triple-doubles at the Olympics – the first was at the 2012 Games in the game against Australia.
LeBron James vs. Serbia:
16 PTS
12 REB
10 ASTOnly 4 triple-doubles in Olympic history.
First player to record three-dimensional three-inches in Olympic history.
KING. #Paris2024 x #Basketball pic.twitter.com/PxYrE3UqNF
— FIBA (@FIBA) August 8, 2024
The final of the 2024 Olympic basketball tournament between France and the United States will take place on Saturday, August 10. The start is at 22:30 Kyiv time. On the same day at 12:00, Germany and Serbia will meet in the match for the “bronze”.
Recall that the title of the current Olympic champion in basketball is defended by the US team. At the 2020 Tokyo Games, the Americans beat France in the final (87:82) and won their fourth consecutive gold at the Olympics.
The last time the Dream Team did not win the Olympics was in 2004, when they were defeated in the semifinals by the eventual champion, Argentina (81:89).
