USA men's basketball topples France to win gold medal at Tokyo Games

SAITAMA, Japan – For his last warmup shots before every game in Tokyo, Kevin Durant would launch the ball toward the rafters, trying to make the ball swish without moving the net.

Durant aimed high throughout the Olympics, and hit his mark. The best player on a U.S. men's basketball team missing a handful of superstars, Durant became the dominant player of the Olympics. Saturday at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, he scored 29 points to lead the U.S. to its fourth straight gold medal with a 87-82 victory over France.

France defeated the U.S. in the team's first game of the Olympics. Then the U.S. began improving its defense and Durant began orchestrating the offense, and the U.S. closed the Olympics with a flourish.

Durant demonstrated his usual shooting touch and obvious emotion, pumping his fist after a first-half dunk, and running to the bench for emphatic high-fives after making a third-quarter three-pointer.

Durant also covered everyone from point guards to France's physical center Rudy Gobert, forcing Gobert to travel on an early fourth-quarter possession. Durant would finish with six rebounds and three assists as well as leading all scorers, then would drape an American flag around his head and shoulders during the postgame celebration.

"He's the best player in the world," said Durant's former coach, Steve Kerr, who is an assistant with Team USA. "Just a wonderful player. He did everything we needed him to do."

Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Basketball, said he first met Durant when Durant was a freshman at Texas. "I wanted him to come to our camp," Colangelo said. "He was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and he's been that way ever since.

Durant is the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. men, and he chose to play in the Olympics even while many of his highest-profile peers declined, for health or personal reasons.

The United States would not have won this gold without him.

France closed to within two points early in the second half and was within four before Durant sandwiched a two-point and a three-point shot around a layup from Jrue Holiday that made it 56-48, USA.

The U.S. went on a 9-2 run to take a 71-57 lead toward the end of the third quarter, with former Timberwolf Zach LaVine scoring five straight points.

Then France hit two three-pointers, including one from Nick Batum, to cut the lead to 71-63 entering the fourth quarter.

The USA's offense went dry early in the fourth quarter, in part because the team stopped getting the ball to Durant, and France cut the lead to 73-70.

The United States' defense improved dramatically as the tournament progressed, and the Americans forced a shot-clock violation on the first defensive possession of the game.

The Americans missed their first eight three-point shots of the game, allowing France to take a 14-10 lead. Durant made the USA's first three-pointer late in the first quarter, tying the score at 18.

The United States probably would have won by more, if the offense hadn't gone away from Durant in the fourth quarter.

Colangelo is retiring after this Olympics, having made USA basketball dominant again. He knows he couldn't have done it without Durant.