In the 2024 Olympic men’s 5×5 basketball gold medal final, host team France (4-1 record) will face defending champion USA (5-0 record) at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 11 at the Accor (Paris-Bercy) Arena.
Odds: US -17.5 points
O/U ratio: 179.5 points
Match Info: The two strongest 5×5 men’s basketball teams at the Olympics have been revealed. One side is host France with enthusiastic support from fans. The other side is the defending champion USA, owner of 4 gold medals in the last 4 Olympics.
The two sides have had very different paths to this final. While the US showed the face of a worthy defending champion with 5 matches unbeaten (it would be 10 matches if counting the 5 friendlies before the Olympics), France had an extremely difficult group stage.
They lost humiliatingly to Germany (who later avenged their defeat in the semi-finals) and narrowly missed out on a loss to Japan. But in the end, the important thing was that France reached the final with two superb knockout games, beating Canada and Germany.
France and the United States will now relive the Tokyo Olympics final from three years ago, when the United States defeated France to climb to the top of the podium at the 2021 Olympics, bringing home a fourth consecutive gold medal for the American team.
Notable Stats: The US is outperforming France in every way, outperforming them in points, rebounds, assists, and every stat related to shooting percentage (FG, 3PT and FT), offensive rebounds and bench points.
Head-to-head record: The US and France have met 12 times in official matches (excluding friendlies). The US has an overwhelming advantage in winning, beating France 10 times.
However, France is the team with 2 wins in the last 3 meetings, including an 89-79 win in the quarter-finals of the 2019 FIBA World Cup and 83-76 in the group stage of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Olympic basketball review, the gold medal final match between France vs USA takes place at 2:30 am on August 11:
Already a favorite, the U.S. team increased their chances of winning after what they did against Serbia in the semifinals. Down by 17 points, the All-Star/All-NBA team calmly closed the gap, creating momentum for a perfect comeback.
The strength of the US team is undeniable, not to mention the extremely formidable depth of the squad. However, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and his teammates will hardly be able to easily win with a large margin against the host team France.
Up to this point, France has completely transformed in the knockout round thanks to boldly leaving Rudy Gobert on the bench. Since then, coach Vincent Collet’s team has played freely, beautifully and also much more effectively.
As the gold medal final, the two teams will likely deliver a tight match, where defense reigns supreme to determine the champion.
With this information, experts believe that the US will be able to win but with a small margin against the French team.
Expert opinion: France +17.5 U/179.5
>> See more: Today’s Olympic basketball predictions
Injury status:
_ The French team took the field with their strongest lineup.
_ The US team took the field with its strongest lineup.
