Basketball 2024 Paris Olympics Review

Men’s Event 

Canada, Germany and the United States all went through the group stages undefeated. United States needed an inspired Kevin Durant performance to overcome Serbia, while Canada faced their toughest test against Australia. Germany relative cruised through. Spain went out in the group stages as everyone in group A managed at least one win. In the quarter finals, Germany beat Greece after pulling away in the second half. Serbia advanced thanks to an incredible overtime performance by Nikola Jokic against Australia. France switched their line-up to great effect, upsetting Canada 82-73 whilst United States cruised through. In the semi-finals, Germany were up 28-18 early but France were able to fight back and win 73-68. Serbia led by 13 with ten minutes to go but, Steph Curry's 36 and a LeBron James triple-double powered United States to a 95-91 win in the highest scoring Olympic game in history. Nikola Jokic recorded a triple-double in the bronze medal matchup to beat Germany. Curry scored 24, including four three pointers in the final three minutes to pull away from the French resistance, led by Victor Wembanyama’s 26. 

🥇United States 🇺🇸 

🥈France 🇫🇷

🥉Serbia 🇷🇸

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction 

I think for most people this came down to the three countries who medalled, Canada and Germany. The draw was always going to have a big impact. 

Women’s Event

The United States dominated their group, finishing undefeated. Spain also won their group undefeated, despite a points difference of just ten. Group B saw three teams win two games, led by France from Australia and Nigeria. In the quarter finals, Australia beat Serbia 85-67. Belgium upset Spain with some sharp-shooting. France and United States also made the semi-final. United States cruised past Australia 85-64. The other semi-final went to overtime, France having overcome a first-half deficit before taking the win. Australia were behind heading into the final quarter of the bronze-medal matchup but rallied to an 85-81 win. In the final, France led by double digits in the third-quarter after a 10-0 run. With 92 seconds left, France trailed by one. Gabby Williams (France) scored a basket at the buzzer, however she was just on the inside of the three-point line, confirming a defeat by a point.

🥇United States 🇺🇸

🥈France 🇫🇷

🥉Australia 🇦🇺

Prediction analysis; 2 medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction 

China were nowhere near as good as I expected. I gave France a boost due to the home advantage but potentially not enough. 

Men’s 3x3 

Latvia came through the pool stage unbeaten. The United States were eliminated with just two wins, edged out on head-to-head by Poland. In the play-in matches France beat Serbia and Lithuania beat Poland. The Netherlands dominated Lithuania in the first semi-final. France would score 10 of 14 points to beat Latvia in the second semi-final. It was a dramatic gold-medal matchup. France would lead in overtime by ten seconds remaining, only for Worthy De Jong to nail a three-pointer, to win Netherlands gold. Lativa were up 17-16 in the bronze-medal matchup but lost 21-18. 

🥇Netherlands 🇳🇱

🥈France 🇫🇷

🥉Lithuania 🇱🇹

Prediction analysis; 0 medalists correct

It felt like Latvia were stronger than the overall result will state. Netherlands did not really enter my calculations. I did mention France as contenders at home. 

Women’s 3x3

The United States lost their first three games in the pool stage but rebounded to win their next four. Germany led the way with six wins, while the next four teams tied on four wins, led by Spain. Canada and United States won play-in games against Australia and China respectively to make the semi finals. Spain took the first semi final in overtime after a 16-16 tie. In the other semi, they were tied with a minute to go only for Greinacher (Germany) to score a buzzer beater. Canada went 9-8 up with four minutes to go in the bronze-medal matchup, only for United States to win 16-13. Spain would lead Germany 15-13 with 1.52 to go in the final but Germany would launch a come back to win 17-16. 

🥇Germany 🇩🇪

🥈Spain 🇪🇸

🥉United States 🇺🇸

Prediction analysis; 1 medalist correct

Germany and Spain were basically teams I overlooked.