USA Men's Basketball Team Defeats France for 4th Straight Gold Medal - Yahoo Lifestyle

The U.S. men’s basketball team poses for photos with their gold medals during the medal ceremony at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.

When the US men’s basketball team lost to France in the preliminary round of play at the Tokyo Olympics, France’s Evan Fournier had this to say about the squad: “They are better individually, but they can be beaten as a team.”

It’s clear the men were able to figure out their chemistry issues the more time they played in Tokyo, as their tournament run culminated in an 87-82 win over France during the final. ESPN reports this was the fourth straight gold medal that the men’s team has won at the Olympic Games.

Kevin Durant was the standout player during the game, which took place Saturday morning in Japan (or Friday night in the United States). He finished with 29 points, and according to ESPN, 21 of them were scored in the first half when the team struggled with shooting.

From ESPN:

“This is one of those special journeys,” Durant said. “When you’re a part of a team that’s evolving by the second, it’s amazing to see. Each game we continued to grow. I’m grateful we all committed to it, we stuck with it and we finished it off.”

Durant’s dominating performance also elicited praise from his former Golden State Warriors teammate Draymond Green. If you remember, Green didn’t have a single nice thing to say about the Slim Reaper when he decided to leave the Bay Area and take his talents to Brooklyn by signing with the Nets.