The message was clear. The reality, too. “I want us to show how dominant we are. I’m talking about winning games by 40 or 50 points, that’s what I want.” The bravado was delivered by Kevin Durant, one of the three tenors of the US basketball team alongside Stephen Curry and LeBron James, before the Paris Games. And yes, the Dream Team won its fifth consecutive Olympic gold, and Durant became the only male basketball player in history with four, but winning by 40 points was not a given.
The United States still lives on another planet. But the worlds are coming closer. The great European teams, Canada and Australia, are knocking loudly at the doors of Olympus. The signs are multiplying as if they were the warning of an advent, a new era. Germany, Serbia and Canada made it to the podium at the last World Cup, and the United States finished fourth. Three of the four semi-finalists at the Games have been Europeans (France, Serbia and Germany), although the victory went to the team coached by Steve Kerr. Even in the NBA, the home-grown boys no longer rule. In last season’s All-Star quintet, only Jayson Tatum wore the American flag, surrounded by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Nikola Jokic (Serbia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece).
“The NBA knows that the gap has narrowed,” says Jorge Garbajosa, president of FIBA Europe, a player for the Toronto Raptors between 2006 and 2008 and an Olympic silver medalist in Beijing. “It’s not that the work in the United States is worse, it’s that in Europe, Australia and some African countries the work is much better. We are talking about Serbia, France, Germany, Canada, Greece, Australia… There is a group of teams that are getting closer to the level of the United States, which went to the Games with everything and with LeBron, Curry and Durant without holding anything back.”
The preparation phase already foreshadowed some twists for the Dream Team, despite Durant’s dialectical inflammation. South Sudan led them by 14 points at halftime in their friendly, and Germany forced LeBron to roll up his sleeves with 11 points in the last four minutes.
“This Dream Team is stronger than the one in Barcelona 92,” Serbian coach Svetislav Pesic had said, comparing this group to that of Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird… Pesic himself, at the head of Jokic’s Serbia, was responsible for contradicting himself. The Balkan team dominated the semi-final against the USA by 17 points, and went into the last quarter 13 points ahead. Only a stellar performance by Curry (36 points) prevented the debacle. The Dream team was only ahead by 3m 25s in the match and its trio of aces celebrated in style on the Arena Bercy court.
Once again, the Warriors’ point guard was key in ending France’s resistance in the final with four consecutive three-pointers in 2m 12s in the decisive moments, the last one a bingo with two defenders on him and falling backwards. That match for the gold medal left one of the images of the Games: Yabusele flying over LeBron to smash the American hoop, like Rudy against Dwight Howard in 2008. The semi-finals (95-91) and the final (98-87) were the only matches in which the Dream Team did not reach 100 points. And in the last one Steve Kerr did not enlist Derrick White and Tyrese Haliburton for a second. Curry played 30 minutes; Durant, 31; LeBron, 32. All the meat on the grill.
The United States can no longer be the team that looked down on the others. Especially since the other teams are shining with the players they compete with in the American league. The Paris Games broke the NBA record for men, 51, and each of the 12 teams had at least one representative. A legacy of another unprecedented record: the 125 non-American players present in the mecca of basketball last season.
“Basketball is becoming more and more global,” adds Amaya Valdemoro, an Olympian in 2004 and 2008, four-time World Cup player and winner of three WNBA rings (1998, 99 and 2000). “There is more multiracialism and physicality is more equal. In Europe, there is more tactical work and there is a better reading of the game, a better understanding of decision-making, reading of spaces. In the NBA, Jokic and Doncic dominate, two guys who stand out for their ability to read the basketball. In entertainment, they beat us, but the Euroleague is more basketball, more team play, more tactics. In the last Olympic finals, they suffered against European teams. In the women’s final, France matched that physical identity and came out without complexes.”
The eighth Olympic gold medal for the U.S. players came with blood and sweat. The Dream Team beat France by a single point (66-67) to tie up its 61st consecutive Olympic victory, but it was its lowest score at a Games since the Beijing 2008 semifinals against Russia, and a long shot by Gabby Williams almost sent the game into overtime. The French player was just inches off the three-point line when she shot in the final second. It was a good reflection of how close the two worlds are.
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