Didn’t have time to watch the Men’s Basketball 2024 Olympics? Do you need a recap of the event? This year’s Olympic basketball event was significant because there were many experts playing basketball this year. It was super exciting watching the USA team because all of the USA’s favorite stars were on the same team including, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Lebron James, Jason Tatum, Jrue Holiday, Anthony Edwards, Anthony Davis, Tyrese Haliburton, Joel Embidd, Derrick White, and Bam Adebayo. There were also many other star players playing in different countries, including Luka Doncic, Nickola Jockic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Victor Wembanyama. In many American eyes, this event was important because it was Steph Curry’s first-ever Olympics. In some opinions, Steph Curry is the best basketball player ever. He holds the record for the most three-pointers ever and has won many more awards, he was a great asset in the Olympics.
Overall, the Tournament was insanely fun to watch. Every team tried their heart out for that gold medal or even a top-three placement. The USA Basketball Team was very confident going into the tournament because this was going to be their fifth straight gold medal in men’s basketball. The tournament started at the end of July and ended in the middle of August.
All of the teams that participated in the tournament were France, USA, Canada, Greece, Spain, Puerto Rico, Australia, South Sudan, Japan, Brazil, Serbia, and Germany. (Not in order.) Each game is a knockout game which means if you lose you are out. The winner of each game moves on and the loser is out for good. 8 teams all play each other in the first round and whoever wins goes to the semi-finals. After that, the finalists play for the gold medal in the finals. Whoever wins, wins all.
The USA team won gold because of their enthusiasm and heart for the game. They did very well in the tournament and had an amazing season. The final game was so fun to watch. Both the USA and France teams played super amazingly, as expected for the two best basketball teams in the world. Toward the end of the last game, the score between the USA and France was super close, but Steph Curry started hitting three-pointer after three-pointer. Steph was on fire. France was still keeping it close and fought hard to the end of the game but with the USA only needing one more three to get a big enough lead to win, Steph Curry hit a three-pointer from deep!
France won silver. They are a well-rounded team with great players, including an NBA player Victor Wembanyama. He is a 7,4 center. They put up a good fight against the Avengers (this year’s USA team’s nickname.)
Serbia beat Germany to win their bronze medal. Serbia is an amazing team. They have a great player who plays in the NBA, Nickola Jockic. Nickola won MVP in the 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2023–24 seasons. He is a center and one of the best passers in basketball right now.
One of the biggest standout basketball players was Stephen Curry. He had the highest-scoring game with 36 points. He scored four three-pointers in the last minute of the gold game for the win. He is truly an outstanding player. One other amazing player for Serbia was Nikola Jokić, He averaged 18 points per game. Also 10 rebounds and 10 assists per game. Serbia in the end came out in bronze. In France, Rudy Gobert only averaged 3 points per game. However, his defense carried his team to silver. Lebron James has played in four Olympic tournaments. He is ranked #3 out of all American players for most points scored through all of the games he has played. He has scored 273 points; this is a lot of points and that’s where he gets the nickname “King James”.
These are some of the most successful strategies in this year’s Olympics. Most of these strategies use passing and moving without the ball.
-Emphasis on Positionless Basketball. (there is no specific position for each player on offense.)
-Focus on Defensive Versatility and Switching. (Being able to move around and switch who you are supposed to guard on defense.)
–Dribble Handoffs. (instead of doing long-range passes, do short handoffs to your teammates on offense.)
–Motion Offense. (Moving with and without the ball on offense to confuse the other team.)
–Off-ball screening and Cutting. (Blocking another offensive player’s defender with a screen, and on offense moving around and running towards the basket looking for the ball.)
This year’s Olympics were an amazing show of skill and athleticism, many stars got to show their talent for the first time on the world’s biggest stage. The top three teams were the USA, France, and Serbia. Also, there were so many new and old strategies used in the Olympics. Overall the basketball season went by super smooth, it felt like the championship game came by so quickly. The player’s hearts for the game drove them to success, which made it fun to watch.
