Serbia bested Germany for the bronze medal
USA holds off France to win Olympic gold medal
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Stephen Curry made 4 three-pointers in the closing minutes to help the United States off America hold off France 87-98 in the 2024 Olympic Games gold medal game at Bercy Arena in Paris. It was a 3-point game with 3 minutes left before Curry took control for the Americans.
Curry finished with 24 points on 8-of-12 three-point shooting plus 5 assists, Devin Booker and Kevin Durrant added 15 points apiece and LeBron James paired 14 points with 10 assists for the winners. Victor Wembanyama paced France with 26 points and 7 rebounds, Guerschon Yabusele of Real Madrid netted 20 points and Nando De Colo of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne scored 12 in defeat.
The teams traded shots early, with Wembanyama scoring 7 points, including a dunk, to give France an 11-10 edge. Both teams made wholesale changes to their lineups as the scoring slowed down. After an Anthony Edwards three-pointer gave the Americans a 13-17 lead, France called its first timeout. The scoreboard showed 15-20 at the end of the first quarter. Anthony Davis made his presence felt in the paint for the USA, but back-to-back threes by Yabusele and AS Monaco’s Matthew Strazel ignited an 8-0 run that pushed France back in front, 25-24. James helped the American regain control at 31-37. Yabusele threw down a poster dunk over James, but the USA offense kept scoring and Booker made it 36-46. Yabusele trimmed the deficit to 41-49 at the break.
A strong start to the second half by Joel Embiid and Curry helped the USA stretch the lead to 47-61. De Colo helped spark the French attack and threes by Wembanyama and Evan Fournier made it 59-65. Davis stepped up with a tip-in and a block to keep the USA in charge. Fournier made a three and De Colo’s steal and layup on the third quarter buzzer drew France within 66-72. Jrue Holiday’s three-pointer made it 69-80 with 7 minutes remaining. France kept the pressure on and after a layup by De Colo and a steal that led to a free throw by Yabusele, it was 77-82 with 3 and a half minutes to go. After Wembanyama made it a 3-point game, Curry drilled a three-pointer with 2:45 left. Curry would make 2 more threes in the penultimate minute to all but wrap up the win. Wembanyama gave France hope with a three that made it 87-93, but another three by Curry sealed the outcome.
Serbia tops Germany to capture bronze
In a re-match of last year's final of the World Championships, Serbia managed to best Germany, 83-93, on Saturday morning in the game for the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. former EuroLeague MVP Vasilije Micic and Nikola Jokic led the winners with 19 points apiece, Bogdan Bogdanovic contributed 16, Aleksa Avramovic added 13, Olympiacos's Filip Petrusev chipped in with 11 and Partizan's Vanja Marinkovic added 10 for a total six players scoring in double digits. For Germany, Franz Wagner led the game with 18 points, Moritz Wagner posted 16, Dennis Schroder had 13 and Johannes Thiemann, 11.
The game opened from beyond the arc through Bogdanovic and Andreas Obst, but Jokic's basket soon made it 3-9. Serbia was setting the tone and managed to maintain a safe lead that was only really threatened by Germany on a couple of occasions before the end of the first quarter, 21-30 after two free throws by Micic. Jokic's free throws made it a 14-point game by minute 13, but the Germans never let go as Obst closed the first half with another three, 38-46.
This was the trend throughout the rest of the game also. Serbia always managed its lead around the 10-point mark, 67-77 with 8:36 to go in the game. Moritz Wagner's layup with little more than five minutes left is all that Germany would be able to accomplish, 74-82. After that, a 0-5 burst by Serbia made it clear that it was on its way to the medal, and when Marinkovic nailed a three to make it 78-93 with three and a half minutes to go it was time for Serbia to start celebrating. The winners would not score a single point after that, but all that Germany could do was to trim it down to the final 10 points.