The United States will face France in the gold medal game in men’s basketball at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. In the men’s semifinals on Thursday, the United States beat Australia 97-78 and France beat Slovenia 90-89.
The Americans were actually trailing the Boomers 45-42 at the half. The third quarter was the difference. The Australians simply could not keep up with the Americans for 10 minutes immediately after halftime. During this stretch, the Americans went on a 32-10 rout.
In this third quarter, the catalysts were Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and Jrue Holiday of the Milwaukee Bucks, who were simply sensational. Durant had 10 points, one rebound, and two assists. Holiday had six points, four rebounds, one block, and one assist.
Durant had 23 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes. Holiday had 11 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes.
The game between France and Slovenia came down to the very end. On the last play of the game, Nicolas Batum of the Los Angeles Clippers came through with a game winning-block on Klemen Prepelic to give France the win.
Please note unlike most sports in the history of the Olympic Summer Games and the Olympic Winter Games, as well as the history of most World Championships on the global stage, the gold medal game in men’s Olympic basketball in Tokyo is taking place BEFORE the bronze medal game. My guess for the weird schedule is to accommodate NBC, which we all know has a major say in the Olympic Games. The United States and France will play in American prime time television for gold (12:30 p.m. AEST on Saturday and Friday evening in the United States), with the game between Serbia and Australia for bronze (9 p.m. on AEST on Saturday). Remember, France beat the United States 89-79 to begin the Olympic men’s basketball tournament at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
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