Team USA was never going to make it through the Olympics without getting tested by somebody. Sure enough, the third time was nearly the charm for Serbia. After getting blown out by Team USA in both an exhibition and group-play game, Serbia very nearly upset the favorites before getting defeated, 95-91, in an instant classic semifinal on Thursday. Now the Americans can breathe a sigh of relief… or can they?
France doesn’t quite have Serbia’s top-end talent. Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world. Victor Wembanyama may get there some day, but he isn’t yet. It hasn’t been quite as consistent as Serbia had been either. France very nearly lost to Japan in group play, and wouldn’t still be playing if it had. But big wins over Germany and Canada have France, the host country, in the gold medal game looking for vengeance against Team USA after losing in this same matchup in Tokyo three summers ago.
Both teams are 40 minutes away from winning the gold medal. Here are the three biggest questions heading into the biggest game of the Olympics.
When France won silver in Tokyo, Rudy Gobert was the face of the team. He’s coming off of an NBA season in which he won Defensive Player of the Year and came three wins short of the NBA Finals. But after an uneven set of exhibitions and an underwhelming performance in group play, France decided to play smaller. Gobert has played only eight minutes in the knockout stage thus far. He claimed he had surgery on his finger before the quarterfinal game against Canada. His coach, Vincent Collet, said he didn’t. He just wanted to play a smaller lineup. Given how well players like Guerschon Yabusele and Mathias Lessort have played in his stead, it’s hard to argue with the results.
Of course, Team USA is a different animal. It’s hard to imagine Yabusele dominating LeBron James physically as easily as he did the frontlines for Germany and Canada. France isn’t a great shooting team. It has made 15-of-55 attempts from deep in the past two games. It’s just hard to imagine France winning a shootout with Team…
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