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.