Utah Jazz’s French player gets Silver in Olympic Games

Tokyo, Japan during the 2020 Olympic Games Photo: Pema Lama

TOKYO, Japan. — Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, 29, represented Team France tonight in the gold medal basketball game against Team USA in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Gobert is a the three-time National Basketball Association (NBA) Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-Star. 

Winning their fourth gold, Kevin Durant of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and his Team USA were heavily favored in Tokyo. Apart from the men’s bronze medal finish at the Athens 2004 Games, the USA has won Olympic gold medals since Atlanta 1996.

The final score was 87 – 82 Team USA.

Olympic basketball games have four, 10-minute quarters.

Four NBA players represent Team France alongside Gobert:

• Nicolas Batum (Los Angeles Clippers)
• Evan Fournier (Boston Celtics)
• Timothy Luwawu-Cabarrot (Brooklyn Nets)
• Frank Ntilikina (New York Knicks)

Every member of the Team USA basketball roster plays in the NBA.

7’1″ Gobert joined the Jazz in 2013 with no other NBA experience.

France got on the board first with 2. It was ied at 15 with two minutes remaining in the first ending the first quarter at 22 – 18, USA. 

Gobert with three minutes left in the 2nd, Gobet made a three-pointer to bring it to within ten points of USA. Mostly aided by Gobert’s other free throws, France brought it up to a score of 39- 44 USA at the half.

71-57 was the largest lead thus far for USA late in the third.

Halfway through the fourth, USA was up 7, not unlike the prelim game just before France turned on the jets winning that game.

Gobert was 16 and 8 with two mins left in the fourth then fouled out with ten seconds remaining in the game with USA up by 2.

“This Game bringing out the best of both teams,” said the NBC commentator shortly after regaining the audio they had lost for a couple of minutes leaving it silent. Viewers statestide only heard squeking of shoes, not the cheering or jeering of normally exuberant NBA fans since COVID had left the stands empty.

France beat USA 83 – 76 in prelims in Tokyo, USA’s only loss in the tournament. A new competition system had been put in place for Tokyo. The Group Phase consisted of three groups of four teams each. The teams placed first and second in each group, and the two best third-placed teams in the Group Phase qualified for the Final Phase. After France beat the USA early in these Olympic Games, they went on to beat the Czech Republic, Iran, Italy, and Slovenia.

The only other Jazz player in Tokyo is Joe Ingles representing Australia since Donovan Mitchell opted out. France and Australia never played each other in Tokyo 2020 and Australia is playing in the bronze medal game later today.

In the first half of March 2020, Gobert infamously touched all the microphones as he exited a basketball press conference when asked about his views on the seriousness of COVID. Within days, the sports world, as the world knew it was shut down. He has since publically apologized for doing so.

Basketball was first featured in the Olympic Games in St. Louis in 1904 as a demonstration sport, but it wasn’t until Berlin 1936 that men’s basketball appeared on the Olympic programme. Professional players have been allowed to participate at the Olympics since Barcelona 1992, when the USA ‘Dream Team’ won gold.