USA basketball will battle Rudy Gobert and France for Gold

Jayson Tatum attempts to dunk over Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles. Photo: Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images

TOKYO — After being down as much as 15 points in the semifinals, the USA Men’s basketball team climbed back to defeat Australia.

Kevin Durant scored 23 points and Devin Booker contributed 20.

Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles scored 9 points and was tied for the most minutes on the floor for any Australian player — along with guard Patty Mills.

“It was a very good win against another outstanding basketball team with great culture and great tradition,” said Team USA coach Gregg Popovich.

In the other semifinal match, the French beat Slovenia 90-89. Luka Doncic had a triple-double, with 37 points, 18 assists, and 10 boards.

Jazz center Rudy Gobert led France with 16 rebounds.

The U.S. lost to France in their opening game in Tokyo, 83-76.

“I’m looking forward to going out there and executing the game plan on defense,” Kevin Durant said about the Gold-Medal match. “Offensively, I’m not worried about that. But just executing the game plan defensively as a team, and we’ll see what happens.”

The final will be on Friday, August 6 at 8:30 pm (MDT).

You can watch it on Peacock or NBC Olympics.