USA Basketball’s Men’s National Team (4-0) squared off in their final pool play game of Group at the 2016 Olympics in Rio against the French National Team at Carioca Arena 1.
Head coach Mike Kryzyzewski went back to Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson in the starting lineup, to go along with Warriors teammate Kevin Durant at small forward, Kyrie Irving at point guard, Carmelo Anthony at power forward, and DeMarcus Cousins at center.
Tony Parker sat this game out with a minor toe injury, with intent on being as fresh as possible for the Olympic quarterfinals in three nights. Thomas Heurtel got the start at point guard, Nando De Colo at shooting guard, Nic Batum at small forward, Boris Diaw at power forward, and Rudy Gobert at center — all NBA players.
1st Quarter – Klay Heats Up
Thompson started with an early foul, then didn’t connect on his next three shots, although only one of them counted as a statistical missed field goal.
The first one was a jumper that hit back rim, on a cut fed by Durant. The second came off a steal and Klay’s reverse layup was fouled by Diaw, although Thompson could very well have sped up a little faster. Instead, he seemed to slow up for the contact, which was actually questionable.
Klay then missed one of the two free throws.
“KD” came off a curl and got an “and-one” assisted by Irving, but he also missed the free throw.
USA found itself down 9-5 early until Durant hit a three from the left wing off a catch-and-shoot, then went down the right side of the lane for a banker.
KD’s streak hit three consecutive buckets as he closed out on a three-point miss on defense, then caught a touchdown pass for a layup off the glass, once again assisted by Irving.
That gave the United States a 12-9 lead, but the team fell asleep getting back on defense and Batum drilled a three in transition as Durant ran past him, to tie the game at 12-12 with 5:33 remaining.
Thompson answered with a cut to the hole rewarded by Cousins, but after that, Klay missed a right corner three shot, then Batum drew a foul on Anthony, who seemed to have blocked Nic’s shot cleanly. France stayed close as Batum hit both free throws to make it 19-18, USA, with 3:32 to play.
With a mass substitution, Coach K brought in his second team consisting of Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George, and DeAndre Jordan, but the unit committed two turnovers in the row right off the bat.
They recovered, however, and DeRozan got an and-one drive, missed the free throw, only to get tipped in for two points by George on the offensive rebound.
George and DeRozan then applied pressure, DeMar got a steal, and was fouled with an unsportsmanlike conduct, the equivalent of an NBA clear path foul. USA was awarded two free throws plus the ball, and ended up taking a 29-22 at the end of the first frame.
2nd Quarter – France Tries A Zone
Up 36-26 and with 7:06 to play, the starters came back in with a mass substitution again, the second unit showing off its defensive prowess with a 19-8 run, but Gobert got a tip-in and Anthony and Thompson missed threes in front of France’s 2-3 zone.
Klay started another fast break after De Colo made a bad pass easily stolen by Irving, but Thompson split the pair of free throws yet again, although he gave USA a double-digit lead at 38-28 with 5:45 to go.
The United States utilized “Melo” in the middle of France’s zone, and Anthony dished back out to an open Klay from the left corner and swished home three more points, but then committed his third personal foul, fouling De Colo outside the arc.
However, ironically, De Colo fouled Thompson beyond the arc on the next play, then Durant was also fouled from distance moments later, and George put a stamp on the run with an alley-oop to Jordan as the U.S. took a 55-44 lead with 38.3 seconds remaining in the half.
But France got fouled closing out the half and George missed back rim at the buzzer, and Team USA took a 55-46 lead at halftime, Klay leading the way with 13 points.
3rd Quarter – More Klay ?
USA got off on the right foot as ‘Melo got a steal, fed to Irving, who found Durant for a two-hand dunk.
Later, Thompson hit another three, from the right corner as Anthony found him from up top. That gave Team USA another ten-point lead at 62-52 with 6:13 remaining.
Gobert then missed, Durant boarded, started the break, and found Klay for yet another triple. Thompson stopped on a dime and swished it to give the United States a 65-52 lead with 5:53 to play. Klay was up to 19 points on 4-for-6 from distance as France called timeout.
But out of the timeout, Diaw found Gobert for a bucket at the rim, Durant lost the ball on a pass out of an attack down the left side, and France scored another easy layup.
Kyrie answered was a vintage crossover jumper, but Batum got fouled on a catch-and-shoot from the right wing by Durant and, with 4:45 to go, Draymond Green finally checked in to try and put the clamps on France.
Green got fouled on an offensive rebound attempt, getting held by Diaw after a missed trey by Klay, and that paid dividends as Draymond darted the ball inside to Jordan, who then zinged it back out to Thompson for yet another three.
Once again, USA went back up by double-digits, 70-59, with 4:15 left in the third.
But Diaw answered with a reverse and-one against Jordan to stem the tide, although Klay came down and hit his 23rd, 24th, and 25th points on a catch-and-shoot from the right wing delivered by KD.
Green played great defense on Diaw’s fade-away, and Jordan got another dunk assisted by Durant, with the hockey assist by Lowry.
USA was now up 75-62 with 3:04 remaining.
Jordan then got a steal, Durant made a late shotclock drive on the left, then found Klay on the right wing, and Thompson let it fly with just three seconds on the clock, the ball trickling in for three more:
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That gave Team USA its biggest lead at 78-62 with 2:07 to play in the third.
But later, Draymond let the ball slip out of his hands again on a lead bounce pass from Thompson, which lead to a three by Antoine Diot.
However, Green recovered by going left-side dribble then lofting a perfect lob to Jordan for the smash, maintaining Team USA’s cushion at 80-65.
But Thompson tried a heat-check three from extra distance straightaway and was short, and Mickael Gelabale came back with a dribble-and-pop jumper.
Jordan was hacked with 2 seconds to go and missed one, giving USA an 81-69 lead going into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Having Trouble Closing Out
Green missed a three from the left wing after a few passes, then at the 8:35 mark, the starters came back in with an 81-71 buffer. Unfortunately, it slowly evaporated.
After a poorly executed inbound pass and a miss that led to a layup, France quickly moved back to within 83-77 with 6:41 to play as Coach K took a timeout.
Cousins then missed a fade-away late in the shotclock again, with no Americans rebounding, and Gelabale hit another jumper to make it a four-point game.
Klay finally ended USA’s drought with a late-shotclock cut to the basket, fed by ‘Melo, and his upfake-fade went through the hoop to give the United States a slim 85-79 lead.
Still, France continued to fight back and Joffrey Lauvergne played pick-and-roll with Heurtel, getting a two-handed and-one dunk as Durant’s help was late and KD slapped Lauvergne on the wrist in the process:
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Lauvergne missed the free throw, Durant got the rebound, but was tied up with a French defender and the whistle was not for a foul, but for a held ball, giving the ball to France on the FIBA-rules alternating possession arrow.
However, Heurtel made a bad pass, Anthony retrieved the ball, outlet to Irving, who nearly slipped, before lobbing an alley-oop right on target to Durant, who jammed it with both hands:
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That gave USA an 87-81 lead with 5:06 to play.
After a timeout by France, Cousins split free throws and ‘Melo got the offensive rebound, but Thompson missed from the left wing with no one rebounding, and Gelabale drilled another jumper, a long two from the left side.
Anthony immediately answered with a right-corner tripel, and Irving rebounded a long miss from France and got fouled at halfcourt, sending him to the line as France was in the penalty. Kyrie’s free throws gave USA another ten-point lead at 93-83.
But Heurtel made an impressive runner past Thompson down the lane, ‘Melo missed a late-shotclock three that Cousins put back, then Durant rebounded a missed three by Diot, and promptly turned the ball over trying to dribble it all the way past halfcourt.
That led to a Heurtel three and, with 2:25 left, France pulled to within 95-88.
Irving nearly lost the ball on the next possession, but recovered to make a touch pass over to Anthony in the right corner for three, but Heurtel was on fire and hit a one-foot runner going past Thompson again, this time aided by a Gobert screen.
Kyrie came back with a Euro-step crossover, valiantly going past the 7’8″ wingspan of Gobert, but missed the lefty layup barely. However, Gobert’s help allowed Cousins to sneak in and get a dunk put-back. USA still maintained a healthy 100-90 lead heading under two minutes.
France came back with a Batum reverse layup on another nice move by Heurtel, Diot traded missed threes with Thompson, and Diot eventually found Batum for another layup, but France was running out of time as they closed the gap to 100-94 with just 32 seconds remaining.
Irving missed a long three late in the shotclock as USA burned as much clock as it could, and Diot hit a three at the buzzer on a catch-and-shoot to make the final score a one-possession game, 100-97.
Klay led all scorers with 30 points on 7-for-13 on threes, 9-for-16 overall, while KD had an efficient 17 points on 6-for-6 field goals and 4-for-5 free throws.
Team USA (5-0) finished up pool play as the Number One seed from Group A, and will face the Argentinian National Team, the fourth seed from Group B, in three nights.
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