Team USA and France will face each other in the gold medal game on Aug. 10, and some of the players are already excited about the matchup. One of those players is France guard Evan Fournier, who says it's always fun playing against Team USA, but they have one goal in mind when playing them.
“Playing Team USA is definitely special, we want to beat their a–,” Fournier said. “But in a good way. These guys are the best team in the world, and we want to be the best. We want to beat them, and it's actually fun playing against them because they're so good.”
Team USA and France have proved to be the best two teams in the Paris Olympics, and they will battle to see who's the best in the world.
Team USA and France will face off for gold in the Olympics
Both Team USA and France had to face some adversity in the semifinals of the Olympics to get to the gold medal game. In France's game against Germany, their opponents opened the game leading 12-2. France turned up their intensity in the second quarter, only allowing them to score eight points, and went into halftime with the score tied.
Toward the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter, France went on a 10-1 run and eventually went up 13 points. Germany stormed back, but France was able to put them away, being the first team to defeat Germany over the past two years in a major tournament.
For Team USA, they trailed for most of the game against Serbia, and it wasn't until the last few minutes of the game that they powered past the Nikola Jokić-led team. To end the game, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant scored the final 13 points for Team USA to complete the comeback. Curry finished the game with an Olympic career-high 36 points and made nine three-pointers, while James finished with a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.
With Evan Fournier already saying that they want to beat Team USA, that will probably be extra motivation for both groups before they hit the court. Joel Embiid has received boos from the crowd in every game because of his choice to play for Team USA in the Olympics instead of France, so he might come out with some extra motivation for himself. Embiid was born in Cameroon and has passports in both the USA and France.
“It was a tough decision, but it is all about comfort level, and like I said, I’ve known these guys [Team USA] for a long time and I just felt more comfortable than on the other side [France],” Embiid said after the game against Puerto Rico. “There was some concern with the other side. Comfort level was huge. I always say I’m going to be where I’m wanted and these guys wanted me.”
Team USA will face a tall task with seven-footers Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, but the U.S. has the firepower to do so.
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