By The Associated Press

PARIS — PARIS (AP) — The United States beat host France 98-87 to win the gold medal in the 2024 Olympicmen’s basketball tournament on Saturday night at Bercy Arena.

Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James led the team to its fifth consecutive gold medal and 17th overall.

Victor Wembanyama scored 26 points for France.

The U.S. outscored France 12-6 to open the third quarter and take its biggest lead of the game.

Stephen Curry has hit a trio of 3s, the last with 6:58 left putting the U.S. up 61-47. He shimmied his shoulders walking back up court afterward.

Curry now has 12 points and is 4 of 8 — all from outside the arc. Curry missed his first three shots. He now has made four of his last five.

NBA rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama is not the league’s only player representing France at the Olympics.

Rudy Gobert from the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nicolas Batum from the Los Angeles Clippers and Bilal Coulibaly from the Washington Wizards are also on the roster.

The second half is underway, with Durant opening the third quarter with a bucket to put the U.S. back up by 10 at 51-41.

NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama got off to a quick start for France, scoring seven points in the first four minutes, including a highlight dunk after blowing past Joel Embiid at the top of the key.

The U.S. leads France more than midway through the first quarter.

The gold medal men’s basketball game at the Paris Olympics between the U.S. and France is underway.

Many of the celebrities and VIPs with seats marked off arrived just in time for a bit of a crush just as the national anthems started.

Scottie Pippen, who played for the U.S. in 1992 as part of the Dream Team and again in 1996, visited and hugged four-time NBA champ Tony Parker as the Star-Spangled Banner ended. As the French anthem played, he walked down courtside to his seat where he hugged IOC member and former NBA star Pau Gasol.

Jayson Tatum has one more chance to have a bona fide moment during the Paris Games.

As the U.S. prepares to play host France in the gold medal game, he was on the court for an extended time going through his pregame shooting routine. Throwing passes to him was U.S. assistant coach Ty Lue, Tatum’s cousin and the coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Tatum has been a constant story during the U.S. run, playing in only three of the Americans’ five games. He was held out of the team’s opener against Serbia and its dramatic 95-91 comeback against the Serbians in the semifinals.

Coach Steve Kerr has been adamant it isn’t personal but rather a matchup-related decision not to play the Boston Celtics star, the player who now has the richest contract in NBA history after signing a $315 million extension earlier this summer.

Tatum said after the first game against Serbia that the experienced humbled him but that he was here to be a team player. That said, he’s a candidate to have a big night for the U.S.

Fans are busy trying to document history with cell phones out during warm-ups for the men’s basketball gold medal game.

They’re taking selfies with the Americans and French on the court behind them or simply shooting video and snapping pics to commemorate the moment.

The game is scheduled to get underway in about 10 minutes.

Remember the sparkly, even glittery shoes LeBron James wore when he first took the court for warm-ups?

Well, James has made a wardrobe change to something even brighter. Now he’s wearing golden shoes so bright they gleam in the lights shining on the court at Bercy Arena.

And why not wear golden shoes when chasing an Olympic gold medal?

France will be “home” for both basketball gold medal games — the men’s one on Saturday night and the women’s one on Sunday afternoon, each time against the U.S.

Home teams are 5-2 entering tonight when playing for basketball gold on home soil.

The U.S. men and women each won in 1984 and 1996, sweeping the titles in Los Angeles and Atlanta. The women’s team from the Soviet Union won in Moscow in 1980.

Australia’s women lost to the U.S. at Sydney in 2000 and Japan’s women also lost to the U.S. at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

Jrue Holiday was on the U.S. men’s basketball team that won gold in Tokyo three years ago. He’s got a chance for a second hoops gold coming up.

That would put him in a tie for the lead in his household.

Holiday’s wife is Lauren Cheney Holiday, a two-time U.S. women’s soccer gold medalist . She won gold in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.

Jrue Holiday will get a second Olympic medal in Paris on Saturday night, either gold or silver. But he needs gold to tie his wife’s mark.

“One, it means I can sit at the table with my wife, so that’d be cool,” Jrue Holiday said. “It’s just an honor and a blessing. I was there for her in 2012 to watch her compete, and then her being here for this one, it’s been awesome to get to share it with my family.”

If history is any guide, the gold medal game in men’s basketball between the U.S. and France might not be super close.

There have been only two Olympic men’s basketball finals in history decided by five points or less: the highly controversial 51-50 win by the Soviet Union over the U.S. in 1972, and the 87-82 win by the Americans over France at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

The average margin of victory in every other Olympic men’s gold medal game: 19.6 points.

Comedian Jimmy Fallon has a couple seats waiting for him. Scottie Pippen, who played on two “Dream Teams” for the U.S. in 1992 and 1996, and Carmelo Anthony also have seats with their names on them.

Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are hustling over from watching the U.S. women take gold in soccer along with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. Only Bird, who won five Olympic gold medals, and Rapinoe, have seats marked with their names.

An hour before tip-off, there were a wide assortment of NBA and Olympic jerseys in the stands with fans representing LeBron James, Scottie Pippen, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Tony Parker and Victor Wembanyama.

The first three people on the court for the Olympic gold medal game were U.S. assistant coaches Erik Spoelstra, Tyronn Lue and Mark Few.

There are strict rules about players not being able to take the court until exactly 60 minutes until tip-off. The first players to make it out there were LeBron James (who started with a dunk) for the U.S. and Victor Wembanyama for France.

And let’s just say LeBron’s shoes will be trending — a metallic green, sparkling in the light.

France is set for a big basketball weekend to cap the Paris Olympics, with both the men’s and women’s teams playing for gold medals. And they’re playing the Americans.

The French teams will not be lacking for support.

Whenever the French teams have played — whether in Lille during pool play or now in Paris at Bercy Arena — fans not been timid in showing up and showing out.

U.S. forward Breanna Stewart is looking forward to the environment.

“Just the way that the fans are continuing to support their countries and come out to France,” Stewart said, ”… hopefully we got some from the United States coming. They’re being loud and making an impact in women’s sports.”

▶ Read more about the France v. USA games this weekend

Some fans are filing into Bercy Arena for the men’s basketball final, including a few Americans with red, white and blue flags.

On that front, they’re outnumbered.

France — with its blue, white and red tricolor flag — obviously has the same color scheme, and well over 1,000 handheld flags were distributed in a seating area behind one of the baskets for the men’s gold-medal game.

Meanwhile, French basketball legend Tony Parker will be part of the pregame ceremony, adding even more flair to the festivities before the game starts.

Jayson Tatum has not played in two of the five U.S. games at the Paris Olympics, held out of both matchups against Serbia.

And, once again, U.S. coach Steve Kerr said that it’s not an indictment of Tatum.

“It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson. It’s what I’ve seen from the other guys,” Kerr said. “Like I’ve said many times during this tournament and this last six weeks, it’s just hard to play 11 people, even in an NBA game.”

▶ Read more on Kerr’s lineup decisions and the Americans’ balanced offense

They gave Kevin Durant the game ball after he broke Lisa Leslie’s all-time U.S. Olympic basketball scoring record in the quarterfinals of the Paris Games. And, of course, he got plenty of congratulations afterward from his biggest fan.

That fan — Wanda Durant, his mother — wasn’t surprised with how her son reacted to her words. To her, it was a very big deal.

To her son, the record is just something that happened. He’s got a fourth Olympic gold on his mind and that’s his motivation right now.

▶ Read more on Kevin and Wanda Durant

Blood stained the neckline of Victor Wembanyama ’s jersey after France clinched a spot in the gold-medal game at the Paris Olympics, courtesy of a fresh cut on the left side of his neck. He did plenty of sweating during the game and was holding back tears when it was all over.

Blood, sweat and tears. How fitting.

“In our national anthem, we talk about blood,” Wembanyama said. “We’re willing to spill blood on the court. So, it’s no big deal. If it allows us to win gold, I’m offering. Take all of it.”

Wembanyama — NBA rookie of the year, No. 1 draft pick, already an international phenomenon — has a new accolade. He’s an Olympic medalist. The only question is whether it’ll be gold or silver, something that’ll be determined Saturday night in the final game of the men’s basketball tournament at the Paris Games.

▶ Read more about Victor Wembanyama’s Olympics performance

French fans have booed Joel Embiid all Olympics — no matter who the U.S. is facing.

It all stems from his decision to play for the U.S. rather than France, which granted him naturalized citizenship status in 2022 even though he has never lived there.

The boo birds will almost certainly be out in full force with France against the U.S. for gold.

▶ Read more about what Embiid thinks of the booing

After the U.S. and France play for men’s basketball gold, the same countries are in the women’s final on Sunday.

The U.S. has won 60 consecutive games at the Olympics, a streak that dates to 1992 in Barcelona.

A victory would give Diana Taurasi a sixth consecutive gold medal, making her the most decorated basketball player in Olympic history, breaking a tie with longtime teammate Sue Bird, who won five.

▶ Read more about the second U.S.-France hoops final in Paris

The men’s basketball final at the Paris Olympics is a rematch of the gold-medal game in Tokyo three years ago.

Kevin Durant scored 29 points and joined Carmelo Anthony as the only three-time men’s gold medalists in Olympic history, Jayson Tatum added 19 and the U.S. held off France 87-82.

Nikola Jokic had the fifth triple-double in Olympics history, and Serbia beat Germany 93-83 to win the bronze medal in men’s basketball at the Paris Olympics.

Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP from the Denver Nuggets, finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to help Serbia claim its first medal since winning silver in Rio in 2016.

Serbia bounced back after nearly upsetting the four-time defending gold medalist U.S. in the semifinals.

▶ Read more about Serbia’s win over Germany

The men’s basketball tournament ends with the U.S. taking on host France in a showdown at Bercy Arena.

The U.S. men rallied to beat Serbia 95-91 in a compelling semifinal. Stephen Curry had 36 points.

Now Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James will lead the team as it seeks a fifth consecutive gold medal and 17th overall.

The French, led by phenom Victor Wembanyama, are seeking their first gold after settling for silver at the 1948, 2000 and 2020 Olympics, losing the final to the Americans in each of those tournaments. France held off World Cup champion Germany 73-69 to advance to Saturday’s final.

The game, a rematch of the final in Tokyo three years ago, is set to start at 9:30 p.m. CEST/3:30 p.m. EDT.

Source: wralsportsfan.com