France will play for a gold medal in men’s basketball in front of their home crowd at the Paris Olympics. Here’s what to know about the French national team and likely Team USA opponent.
The host nation is heading to the men's basketball gold medal game.
France has set up a potential gold medal rematch against Team USA by beating Germany 73-69 in the semifinals at Bercy Arena on Thursday.
Germany jumped out of the gates to take a 10-point lead in the first quarter, only for France to tie the game heading into halftime. France built up 13-point lead of its own with less than seven minutes left in the fourth and held on for the win despite Germany cutting the deficit to two in the final minute.
Guerschon Yabusele led France with 17 points. Victor Wembanyama had 11 points on 4-for-17 shooting, while Rudy Gobert went scoreless in just five minutes of action.
Dennis Schröder scored a game-high 18 points for Germany and Franz Wagner chipped in with 10.
France awaits the winner of the second semifinal between Team USA and Serbia, which will tip-off at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT.
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics
Watch all the action from the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games live on Peacock
France has three silver medals in its Olympic history, with all three coming at the hands of the U.S. in the gold medal game. Team USA defeated France 87-82 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to secure its fourth straight gold medal in the event.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
This year's gold medal game will be held 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT on Saturday.
Germany, meanwhile, will go for its first Olympic men's basketball medal in the bronze medal game against the USA-Serbia loser at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT on Saturday.
