Tag: France

Alexis Ajinca: The time has come for me …

Alexis Ajinca: The time has come for me to turn the page as a professional player. Basketball has given me a lot. I thank the fans, clubs, coaches, volunteers and my teammates for all these moments. I thank my friends and family who have always supported me.

Kevin Durant’s top three plays in celebration of his 33rd birthday

Ranking Kevin Durant’s three best performances of the past year.

Kevin Durant turned 33 on September 29 and in celebration of the occasion, Nets Wire is looking back at the the two-time NBA champion’s top three performances from his age-32 season. Some of these performances were enough to convince basketball fans that Durant is indeed in the conversation for being the best player in the world, finally surpassing LeBron James.

Although it is early to say, these performances may not make it to the end of the year. With the season starting on October 19, this list may get updated very soon. But of course, at this very moment, here is where things stand.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Parisian landmarks will serve as competition venues, public inclusion

The city last hosted in 1924, and it received these Olympics in 2017 as part of a double award with Los Angeles, which will host in 2028.

The city last hosted in 1924, and it received these Olympics in 2017 as part of a double award with Los Angeles, which will host in 2028.

It turns out the USA Men’s Basketball Team is still pretty far ahead of the rest of the world

Nobody is touching the US when it comes to basketball. And it’s not close.

As we entered into the Olympics, there were plenty of concerns about Team USA’s Men’s Basketball team.

Yes, they were riding in off of a 25 game winning streak. But they were also missing a bunch of their stars. There was no LeBron James. There was no James Harden. There was no Steph Curry. There was no Dwyane Wade. No Carmelo Anthony.

All of the big stars we were used to seeing just weren’t there anymore with the exception of Kevin Durant. This team felt like Kevin Durant and a bunch of guys despite the squad having stars like Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and more.

It just didn’t…feel the same. And then the unthinkable happened — they lost to Nigeria in their first exhibition game. Then they lost again to Australia after that. Then, once Olympic play actually started, they lost to France.

Everyone started to pile on. This team wasn’t built right. There were too many stars who weren’t doing the little things. The rest of the world was catching up.

Gregg Popovich said it himself to reporters in Tokyo, per the AP.

“The gap is smaller and smaller every year as far as talent is concerned,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said.

And you know what? He’s right. The talent around the rest of the world has gotten a lot better. Teams are catching up.

You’ve got teams in France, Spain and Australia with tons of NBA talent like Nic Batum, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Ricky Rubio and more. You’ve also got Slovenia with Luka Doncic, who can be the best player int he world on any given night.

Ben Simmons didn’t play this year. Neither did Giannis Antetokounmpo. Canada is only getting better. The rest of the world has improved and will continue to do so.

But Team USA’s run here makes it clear: As good as the rest of the world is getting, the United States is still comfortably better than their best.

Kevin Durant said it best himself in his Instagram Live session. It’s still not close.

“They had some power rankings out. They had us fourth. Behind Slovenia. Talking about they catching up to us, like, are you serious? This skill is unmatched. You dig?” 

He’s right. It is unmatched. And, despite a shaky start to the Games, they proved it.

Team USA’s margin of victory over the rest of the field through their five games of Olympic play was 20 points after their 87-82 win over France. It just wasn’t close. Kevin Durant was the best player on the floor in every game and that’s really all they needed to happen.

This isn’t to say that the path they took was easy. That isn’t true at all. They certainly had their struggles and they’ve alluded to them throughout the process. But they still dominated. And they won gold. At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.

So is the rest of the world better? Absolutely. But Team USA is still the best. And it’s not close.

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Team USA’s Mens Basketball team will finally get a chance at revenge against France

Team USA can get a bit of revenge here.

Team USA’s Men’s basketball team seems to have finally caught a rhythm after two straight blowout wins in the knockout stages.

First, they pulled off a 95-81 win over Spain. After that, on Thursday morning, it was a 97-78 win over Australia. In both games, Kevin Durant looked like the best player in the world. Behind his excellent play, team USA seemed to be back to its normal, dominant ways.

But they’ve still got another demon to exorcise.

After France’s 90-89 win over Slovenia in the Semifinals on Thursday, they’ll play Team USA in the Finals for gold on Friday. And that’s a big deal for France.

The last time Team USA saw France, they lost 83-76. Kevin Durant was somehow held to 10 points and the rest of the team was ice cold.

The difference between their last 3 games and their first game against France was stark.

The rematch is set.

They snapped Team USA’s 25 game winning streak with this win and beat them twice in a row. The French have a good basketball team.

This won’t be a cakewalk for Team USA at all, but it’ll be a chance for them to get some revenge for an embarrassing loss.

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Theo Maledon, Jaylen Hoard celebrate France’s win over US on IG

After the French men’s basketball team beat the United States, Thunder players Theo Maledon and Jaylen Hoard celebrated their home country.

The French men’s basketball team took down the United States 83-76 after outscoring the American team 46-31 in the second half of the Olympic game on Sunday, ending the 25-game Olympic winning streak of the U.S.

No Oklahoma City Thunder players were on the Olympic roster, but they have multiple French players on their team. Those players were excited about the victory.

Point guard Theo Maledon and wing Jaylen Hoard celebrated the win on Instagram, sharing a photo from the French team’s account that read “Victoire” in large font.

France came back from a seven-point deficit with 3:30 in the game. They outscored the American team 16-2 from that moment on as the United States missed nine shots in a row.

Boston Celtics wing Evan Fournier scored 28 points on 11-for-22 points to lead France to victory. The team has several NBA players, including Rudy Gobert, Nic Batum and Vincent Poirier. Poirier was very briefly on the Thunder last offseason but was never played a game for OKC.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday led Team USA with 18 points off the bench, but he shot just 5-for-13 from the field. Holiday, Khris Middleton and Devin Booker are all getting adjusted to the team after arriving to Tokyo very recently, as all three competed in the NBA Finals that ended less than a week ago.

The Americans are now 53-4 in the Olympics since NBA players were allowed to participate on the team.

They will play again on July 28 and July 31.

WATCH: Boston Celtics wing Evan Fournier’s 28 points, 4 rebounds with France vs. Team USA

Fournier was probably not the Celtics player people would have predicted to lead this game in scoring.

While it might not have been the Boston Celtics player to dominate the Team USA Olympic contest with France most of us would have expected to be reading about afterward, Evan Fournier’s 28 points, 4 rebounds, an assist and a steal led all players in France’s upset 83 – 76 win over Team USA.

Fournier was the driving force behind the unexpected if not unsurprising win, the pending free agent doing his next paycheck no harm with his excellent play in Olympic competition this Sunday morning. For those of you who were too tired to get up at 8 a.m. to watch the game, we tracked down some highlights of Fournier’s best plays to peruse at your leisure.

Watch the video clip embedded below tweeted out by fan videographer Tomasz Kordylewski to see the St. Maurice native’s big game for France against Team USA.

Something tells us if he keeps up playing like this for the rest of the games that his next paycheck in the NBA might be a tad bigger than some anticipated.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Jayson Tatum, Team USA fall to France 83-76 behind Evan Fournier’s 28 points

Team USA’s struggles continued with the loss to France on Sunday morning.

Team USA’s woes in international play continued as USA Basketball dropped their matchup against France to open Olympic medal competition 83 to 76 with a big third-quarter surge and 28 points from Boston Celtics shooting guard Evan Fournier.

NBA teammate and Olympics opponent Jayson Tatum scored just 9 points and 2 blocks off the bench for USA on 3-of-9 shooting (including going 1-of-5 from beyond the arc) and the other two Celtics alumni playing for France — Guerschon Yabusele (6 points, 4 rebounds) and Vincent Poirier (3 points, 4 rebounds) — contributed to the win against the United States.

Team USA has not lost in official Olympic play since the 2004 Olympics that saw them take home the Bronze after losing to Argentina.

After struggling in exhibition play while training for the Tokyo Olympics in Las Vegas, Nevada with Team USA losing 2 of 4 friendlies played, this was perhaps less of a surprise than it might be, if a concerning one for fans in the U.S.

Team USA next faces Iran on Wednesday, July 28 at 12:40 a.m.

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Kevin Durant, Team USA drop first game in group stage

Team USA’s struggles from the Las Vegas exhibitions have also made the trip to Japan.

Does the 2024 redeem team need to be assembled already?

That may be an overreaction, but Team USA was unable to benefit off of a late second half run and ultimately lost to an Evan Fournier led France team in their first game of Olympic play. Fournier torched the United States with 28 points on 50% shooting, with help from Rudy Gobert who scored 14 points. France has now defeated the U.S. in their last two matchups, as it was France who eliminated the U.S. from the FIBA World Cup in 2019.

This was only the first game in the group stage, but the offensive chemistry, and defensive lapses that we saw during the Las Vegas scrimmages, appear to have made its way to Tokyo. France finished on a 16-2 run in the fourth, and even with the large surge that the U.S. had, France never wavered.

Kevin Durant did not preform as well as this team needed him to, and found himself in early foul trouble and eventually fouled out. Durant was unable to get his shot to fall, shooting 4-12 from the field and 1-6 from three for just 10 points. As a team the U.S. shot 31% from three and 36% from the field.

The only bright spot of the game was Jrue Holiday, who is fresh off of winning an NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. Holiday was the teams leading scorer off the bench with 18 points, led the team in assists with 4, and was second in rebounds with 5.

Greg Popovich’s strategy of playing small the whole game was an interesting move, as the U.S. were out rebounded all game, yet their lone seven-footer JaVale McGee did not touch the floor the whole game.

Popovich is seemingly looking less and less like the right coach for the U.S. This team still looks like they are learning to play together, which makes sense considering they have only been playing together for about a week or so, and adding new players makes that chemistry build much more difficult.

The U.S. will take on Iran next, in a battle of teams looking for their first win in Tokyo.