Team USA vs. France will be pressure cooker for men's basketball gold medal

PARIS — France’s basketball team wanted this gold-medal game against the U.S. – ever since losing to the U.S. for gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The stakes – and pressure – have compounded since then, too.

∎With French star Victor Wembanyama’s arrival along with other talented young players, spurring the French revolution on the basketball court.

∎With the disappointing 18th-place finish at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

∎With the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

France plays the U.S. on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET) at Bercy Arena for gold, and the environment should be fantastic. "That's going to be the most-watched game, I feel like, since I've been playing in FIBA," U.S. star Kevin Durant said.

If a team can have a home game at the Olympics, this is it for France. “It's very exciting to play France in Paris in the gold-medal game,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “It doesn't get much better.”

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Don’t let the gravity of France’s situation detract from the pressure on the U.S. This is ultra-important for the Americans, too. The U.S. is the only country in Olympic basketball where if it doesn’t win gold, it’s a massive disappointment – if not embarrassment. The bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics still stands as a low point for the U.S. men’s basketball team. It has won every Olympic gold since.

The U.S was almost in that predicament in Paris. Trailing Serbia 76-61 late in the third quarter of the semifinals, the U.S. rallied and averted disaster with a 95-91 victory Thursday, setting up this compelling gold-medal game .

“I didn't want to be on the team that since ’04 didn't make it to the gold-medal game,” said Steph Curry, who had a game-high 36 points against Serbia . “There's pressure, that's a part of it, but with the group that we have, I know the way that we all approach the game of basketball, the sacrifice has been evident up and down the roster this whole time.”

Kerr didn’t want to address the pressure question. Not now. But no U.S. coach and player want to be on an Olympic team that didn’t win gold.

“My only thought honestly is France. We just finished our coaches meeting. We met with the team. We have one more game left and that's all I'm thinking about,” Kerr said Friday. “And so yes, of course there's a lot of pressure in this job, but that's what we sign up for and kind of what we enjoy. This is competition and so we're locked in on (Saturday). We're excited about competing for a gold medal and (you) can ask me all those other questions after.”

Kerr returned to his hotel late after beating Serbia, watched the France-Germany semifinal and then the first half of USA-Serbia. He planned to watch the second half later Friday – not to relive the wild comeback but to see how the U.S. can play better.

“There's definitely things that we can learn from last night's game, things that we can expect to see France do,” Kerr said. “By (Saturday) morning when we meet with the team, we will have reviewed everything together as a staff and put together our game plan. We have a decent idea of what we want to do, but we got to delve into it more deeply (Friday) and (Saturday) morning and be ready to go (Saturday) night.”

Kerr isn’t worried about the offense. The U.S. puts up points.

"We've got to make tomorrow our best defensive game,” he said. “Our defense has carried us through this tournament. It's what we know wins a FIBA game and the game got away from us (Thursday) night. … We've got to be ready for (Saturday) with a better defensive edge, more physicality and we got to be able to play off of our defense for sure.”

A week ago, France was on the verge of imploding. It had lost to Germany in the final game of group play and bickering between coach Vincent Collet and Evan Fournier ensued. Starting with the quarterfinals, Collet replaced Fournier and Rudy Gobert in the starting lineup with Isaia Cordinier and Guerschon Yabusele. The switch worked. France beat Canada and Germany to reach the final.

It’s a deep, experienced team with size that is playing its best basketball of the Olympics – and with confidence.

"It's what you dream of when you're a kid,” Gobert said. “I remember, like it's today, like it was yesterday, dreaming about seeing myself playing in the final at home in the Olympics. And now we're here.”

And now we're here with all the pressure that comes with a game of this magnitude.

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Team USA vs. France will be pressure cooker for men's basketball gold medal