The USA beat France 98-87 in a disputed and exciting match to win a fifth consecutive gold medal in men's basketball (2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024) and take their tally of Olympic golds to 17.

In a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics final three years ago, LeBron James and the USA team stacked with NBA stars won against France and its star player Victor Wembanyama.

Team USA redeemed itself for its fourth-place finish at the 2023 World Cup, a result that was the seed for the self-styled Avengers, assembled by LeBron to settle that debt.

With this gold, the USA has won 17 of the 21 Olympic men's basketball tournaments. Only the USSR (Munich-1972 and Seoul-1988), Yugoslavia (Moscow-1980) and Argentina (Athens-2004) have been able to hinder them.

The silver medal is the fourth for France, having been defeated by Team USA in the finals at London 1948, Sydney 2000 and Tokyo in 2021.

France had Batum, Ntilikina, Cordinier, Yabusele and Wembanyama and the USA started with Durant, Booker, Curry, Embiid and James.

The first half was evenly matched, but the team led by Lebron and Curry went into the break with a slight lead (41-49). The USA took, with Jame Lebron and Kevin Durant as big stars, lead in the first two quarters, 20-15 and 29-26, and France managed to pull ahead in the third quarter, 25-23. 

The last was 26-21, with many moments of uncertainty and tight scorelines.

Stephen Curry scored 28 points, and eight three-pointers as Kevin Durant won gold for the fourth time, a record among men.

Serbia beat Germany 93-83 in the men's category on Saturday to win bronze, the third Olympic medal in its history for Serbia in men's basketball. In the game, the Svetislav Pesic-coached team had the fifth triple-double in Olympic history.

Serbia started the first quarter winning, 30-21, by a gap that narrowed bit by bit making the game very tight. Germany pulled away timidly in the second quarter by just one point (16-17). Serbia also pulled away by one point in the third quarter (26-25), and finally held a one-point lead in the fourth and final quarter, 21-20.

On the Serbian side, the game was marked by the role played by Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets who had 19 points,12 rebounds and 11 assists. Vasilije Micic was also outstanding. For Germany, the top performer was Franz Wagner with 18 points and 9 rebounds, or his brother Moritz with 16 while Schroder scored 13.