Well, here it is. We have finally made it to the gold medal game of the 2024 Olympic's men basketball tournament.
On one hand, we have the French. En route to the final showdown against the United States, they have beaten Canada and Germany, meaning if they beat the U.S, they will have beaten the three best teams in the entire tournament.
On the other hand, we have the Americans, led by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry. While they have played inferior opponents in Brazil and Serbia, the game against the Serbians proved to be the most entertaining of the entire tournament, with the U.S coming back from an 18 point deficit to win a nail-biter.
Now they will face eachother. I think I speak for most when I say I did not expect France to make it this far.
Hell, I did not even expect them to medal in the first place.
Yet here we are, and as good as the United States is, I expect France to give them as tough of a test as anyone thus far, despite entering the contest as a 16.5 point underdog.
France may not have the same level of infamy that USAB brings to the table, but their lesser known names are almost equally as dangerous as their NBA guys.
While most people recognize names like Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, and Evan Fournier, they have gotten plenty of production from guys like Guerschon Yabusele, Matthias Lessort, and Isaia Cordinier.
As good as France has looked in the knockout round, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. The team was beaten handedly in the group stage by Germany, and narrowly escaped a major upset at the hands of Japan.
But something has clicked, and my prediction about the French being a legitimate threat to dismantle the U.S has come to fruition four years sooner.
Sure, these two teams met in the gold medal game in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but this France team is wayyyyy better all around.
For the United States, this team is also significantly better than the 2021 team that beat France 87-82, and I do not think it's too far fetched to say they are the best U.S Olympics basketball team of all time.
Basketball fans around the world have longed for a KD, Chef, and King trio for years, and now that it has finally become a reality, it is as glorious as we imagined.
But don't let that take away from the talent on the rest of the team.
Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday are amongst the best defenders in the whole world, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, and Anthony Edwards are experts at putting the ball into the basket, and Tyrese Haliburton is on pace to be as good of a facilitator as any in NBA history.
Sure, it would have been fun to see the United States take on a team with the same star studded roster such as Canada (not you Dillon), or a team as experienced on the world stage like the Germans.
However, after watching the knockout round, I truly believe France is the second best team, and after the level of anxiety the game against Serbia provided, fans of USAB can expect the same up and down affair against the blue, white, and red (see what I did there;)).
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