Team USA Basketball Wins Gold Medal After Beating France at Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The United States men's basketball team just won another gold medal. On Saturday, Team USA [...]

By Brian Jones

The United States men's basketball team just won another gold medal. On Saturday, Team USA defeated France 87-82 in the gold medal game of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The squad has now won four consecutive Olympic gold medals, and Kevin Durant, who scored 29 points in the win, has collected three gold medals. He's now tied with Carmelo Anthony for the most gold medals in Olympic men's basketball history.

"This is one of those special journeys that, you know, is hard to describe, because each and every one of us put in that work every single day, from coaches to the trainers, to the players, we all came in with that goal of, 'let's finish this thing off," Durant said after the game. "Let's build a family. Let's build this team. Let's grow this team every day.' And when you are part of a team that's, you know, evolving by the second, it's just amazing to see. So each game, we continued to grow, our coaches continued to have more confidence in us, the players started to have more confidence in their roles."

Two other players to make history are Milwaukee Bucks teammates Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton who joined Team USA after winning an NBA Championship. They become the fourth and fifth players to win the NBA Finals and Olympic gold in the same year, joining Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Kyrie Irving.

"That was tough," Holiday said when asked about playing in the NBA Finals and then traveling to Japan for the Olympics. "And then flying out here, getting in at like 12 or one in the morning. Playing France … Getting in at one that morning me Book (Devin Booker) and Khris, and then playing that night against France. Losing that game, and then being able to go through the tournament, the rest of the tournament, and meeting them in the championship, the gold medal game. I don't know, I guess me thinking about it, and me telling you that story, man, that's a hell of a summer."

Head coach Gregg Popovich became the fifth coach in NBA history to win an NBA title and Olympic gold medal. And for Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo, his run with the team came to an end with Saturday's win. He has been with Team USA since 2005, which was right after the team lost three times in the 2004 Olympics and earned a bronze medal.

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