USA Men’s Basketball Team Wins Gold in Tokyo Olympics

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The USA men’s basketball team has won gold medals in the last three summer Olympics. Back in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, and 2016 in Rio. Tremendous resume for the USA men’s basketball team going into this summer Olympics in Tokyo looking to secure a fourth gold medal in a row.

Surprisingly, we were counted out of winning the gold medal by many basketball analysts, fans, and other countries around the world after losing our first two exhibition games against Nigeria and Australia. The doubt grew larger and larger by the time that passed especially when the group pool games started. Our first game was against a tough, well-organized France team that included Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, and other great players. We ended up losing that first group pool game 83-76. It was a very disappointing loss, but there was too much doubt going around that suggested that team USA would not overcome the adversity to get the job done. After that, team USA never looked back.

USA’s next game was against Iran where they were looking to make a statement to the whole world. We destroyed Iran winning 120-66. Iran did not stand a chance against us, but there was still doubt lingering in the air. The next game was against a team that didn’t back down against us but was not nearly enough to stop us. We beat Czech Republic 119-84 to advance to the Quarterfinals of the Olympics. We had all the momentum moving forward, but there was still a lot of doubt going around that put the USA at only winning bronze or silver which was insane.

In the Quarterfinals, we were facing an intelligent squad in Spain that included the Gasol brothers (Marc and Pau), Ricky Rubio, and other amazing players. As great of a team as Spain was, team USA’s talent was too much for them to handle. USA won 95-81 to advance to the Semifinals against Australia. This Semifinal game was the one to watch because Australia had beaten us in the exhibition match-up so, many people out there thought that Australia was going to win again. Think again! USA made sure that they would silence all the doubters and went on to win 97-78 which advanced them to the Gold Medal match.

In the Gold Medal match, the USA was going to face a familiar team that they had faced a week and a few days before, France. France’s club was still a brute force to be stopped and the USA was going to hold nothing back. The USA came out the gates with a bang and secured the gold medal for themselves and their nation. USA beat France 87-82 rallying behind the best player in the world at the moment, Kevin Durant. Durant always shows up in the Gold Medal matches since 2012. In 2012, he scored 30 points to close out the Olympics and in 2016 he did the same thing, a 30 point game again. Now in Tokyo, he closed out France with 29 points making him one of the best scorers for USA in the Olympics.