“We are street people, and when we play like street people, we are very difficult to beat,” says French guard Isaia Cordinier after devouring world champions Germany in the semi-finals of the Games and securing a place in the final this Saturday (9.30pm), which the United States will later enter. Street people, in a dangerous, threatening sense, a term used in the French suburbs. And it is to this quarrelsome spirit that France is seizing upon to challenge the nobility of world basketball, the Dream Team of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James, in the fourth final in its history, having lost the previous three (1948, 2000 and 2021) against the empire.
If they ever thought they were untouchable, Serbia brought them down to earth. Nikola Jokic’s team led the semi-finals against the United States by 17 points, went into the last quarter 13 up and only a furious reaction from the North American stars (36 points from Curry) prevented the biggest surprise of these Games. The Dream Team was saved on the wire (95-91) and its stars celebrated as if they had already won the fifth consecutive Olympic gold that they are chasing. The scare was tremendous, and surely that will serve as a lesson for them to start the game at a higher speed today.
France will not demand anything else in a match that is a repeat of the Tokyo final. The USA won then (82-87), having previously been defeated in the group stage by the French (83-76). And if the match was lacking some fuel, in the crosshairs will be Joel Embiid, the Cameroonian pivot who asked the French federation to prepare for the final. blueand thus his naturalization was cooked up thanks to a distant relative. But when the squad for the last World Cup was being drawn up, and if not for these Games, the man changed his mind after a call from King James and decided to change his shirt.
LeBron is the undisputed alpha. When the camera focuses on him, he points to an imaginary crown with his fingers, reminding himself who sits on the throne. On the court, he takes command of operations. No one would say that he turns 40 in December except for the loss of his hair and the grey in his beard. His physical display when he faces the hoop is unstoppable. In the search for his third Olympic ring after the unforgettable finals of 2008 and 2012 against Spain, LeBron is the leader of the Dream Team in points per game (14.2), rebounds (7), assists (8.2) and PIR (23.4), and has been the most consistent member of the group led by Steve Kerr, the Warriors coach.
To the left and right of the king, Princes Curry and Durant. The Golden State star is an Olympic debutant at 36, curious to discover the experience of the Games, and terminal against Serbia at the beginning (14 of the first 15 points of his team) and at the end. Slow in the first games, he has regained his killer instinct when he smells blood. Durant (35 years old) did not play a single minute in the five preparation games, but he does not need to. In the first half against Serbia he scored 21 points without a single mistake. He has in his hand to become the only male basketball player with four gold medals at the Games. In his three previous finals he scored 30 points against Spain in 2012, 30 against Serbia in 2016 and 29 against France in 2021.
Faced with this constellation, the home team has a very resourceful inside game with Gobert, Lessort, Yabusele and Wembanyama. If they had also added Embiid… The unicorn Wemby, 20 years old (19 years younger than LeBron), 2.24m, is the big attraction after his debut in the NBA with the Spurs, voted rookie of the year. In Paris he leads France with 13.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per night. Curiously, it has been the men from the Euroleague, guys like Yabusele (Madrid), Lessort (Panathinaikos) and Cordinier (Virtus) who have stepped up in the duels against Canada and Germany. France will need all its ammunition, and that cailleran air, if it wants to compete with the Dream Team.
You can follow Morning Express Sports onFacebook andXor sign up here to receive theDaily newsletter of the Paris Olympic Games.
