TOKYO (Japan): A USA team led by 11-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant were beaten 83-76 by France in a huge Olympic basketball upset on Sunday.
The French, with a team containing NBA players including Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier, inflicted the Americans’ first defeat at an Olympics since the 2004 Athens Games.
Durant was held to just 10 points in the first-round game and was unable to inspire his team as the French came from behind to take control in the final quarter.
The Americans had looked rusty in the build-up to Tokyo, losing to Nigeria in a warm-up game, and the defeat will underline Durant’s fears expressed before the Games that his side will not face a “cakewalk” in Japan.
Fournier was sensational for France, top-scoring with 28 points. Although the Boston Celtics player only scored four from 12 from beyond the three-point line, he found his range when it mattered to help the French stun the Americans.
“I tried to be aggressive. As an NBA player I know the players we were facing. We had to show the team how to attack them,” Fournier said.
The USA face Iran in their next game on Wednesday when France take on the Czech Republic.
