Paris Olympics: US women recover from 10-point third-quarter deficit to win eighth straight basketball gold

PARIS — With just two minutes left in Sunday’s gold medal game against France, leading by just one point, Kelsey Plum took a two-strike foul, stepped to the free-throw line, smiled and had a quick chat with God.

“God is so good, He has a sense of humor,” Plum said after the game. “This year has been brutal for me. The fact that I’m even playing basketball right now is huge. So just to be on the free throw line, shooting free throws for gold medals…”

Maybe divine intervention helped Plum’s crucial free throws come to fruition. Maybe not. Either way, under crushing pressure — staring at the end of the Olympics’ greatest dynasty — Plum and the rest of Team USA stepped up and hit the clutch shots they needed to hold off France by the narrowest of margins, 67-66.

“History doesn’t give you another (gold medal),” Diana Taurasi said. “You have to earn it. All these teams put in the effort, they all spend money, they invest in their team. You see it in the tournament. On any given night, any team could have won.”

The game wasn’t over until the last shot. Down three points, France’s Gabby Williams dribbled onto the court, took a shot, watched the ball go into the goal, heard the French crowd roar … and then realized her foot was on the line. Game, United States.

A’ja Wilson led Team USA with 21 points, with Plum and Kahleah Copper both coming off the bench to contribute 12 points apiece. This was a close win — Team USA shot just 34 percent from the floor all night and 17 percent from 3-point range — but in the Olympics, a win’s a win.

The floor of the Bercy Arena still bore scorch marks from where Steph Curry had caught fire on Saturday night, leading Team USA to a victory over the French men’s team. The United States entered a starting lineup of Chelsea Gray, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Jackie Young and Wilson. Perhaps it was the nerves of the gold medal, but neither team was particularly sharp in the opening minutes, with turnovers, poor shot selection and sloppy play on both ends of the court.

France, by both chance and design, overthrew the United States’ two main drivers: a stifling defense and a pass-happy offense. Early on, the French were simply faster on offense than the American defense, moving the ball and cutting to the basket in a way that was distinctly American. On the other end of the court, France’s chaotic defense forced the United States into far too many early turnovers. But experience has a way of winning, as does sheer physicality, and by the end of one quarter, the United States led 15-9.

Celebrity Row on the American side of the court was filled with gold medalists including LeBron James, Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, Scottie Pippen and Lisa Leslie. The second quarter saw an American team that too often ended up in one-on-one offensive matchups or failed to grab defensive rebounds, and if France had been able to hit an occasional open 3, the United States would have been in big trouble. As it was, France tied the game at 20 with 4:17 left in the first half.

With the shot clock winding down and 2:45 left in the first half, France’s Marine Fathoux did her best Steph Curry imitation, sinking a near-logo 3-pointer that tied the score and kept the home crowd engaged. A few bad fouls and some sharp defense dented the U.S. spirit, and the teams went into halftime tied at 25.

The halftime stats weren’t pretty. Wilson went 2-of-9 from the field in the first half and 2-of-4 from the line; Stewart shot even worse percentage-wise, 1-of-6. Overall, Team USA shot 29 percent, France 28 percent. The key stat: France scored 12 points off the Americans’ 13 turnovers in the first half.

The second half started much like the first half ended — with France outscoring the United States and the Americans missing easy shots in the paint and putbacks. France scored the first 10 points of the second half to force the United States into an early stop-the-bleeding timeout and quick recovery mode.

“I don’t think any of us were shocked or lost our cool,” Ionescu said. “We were playing a very good French team in France. We understood that they would have the crowd, everyone behind them. That space sometimes feels bigger when you have that.”

Plum finally put the United States on the board nearly four minutes into the second half with a 3-pointer, and Wilson turned a steal into a fast-break layup seconds later to bring some sanity back to the United States. Plum added another 3 shortly thereafter, and in just over a minute, the United States had cut France’s lead from 10 to 2.

And then the inevitable happened. The U.S. shots started falling, France began to struggle, and with 2:31 left in the third period, Collier chipped away at France’s last remaining lead. Collier put the U.S. up 41-40 with a wide-open layup under the basket that the Americans had been unable to capture all afternoon. The third quarter ended with the U.S. up 45-43 after a 20-8 run.

With gold on the line, the fourth quarter turned physical, with players from both teams colliding and hitting the ground hard. France held a two-point lead with 4:35 to go, and the game was tied with less than four minutes left. The United States took the lead for good with Stewart’s free throw with 3:45 to go, shaking off a few more French attacks. Then came Williams’ final, desperate shot, a deep throw that went in and would have tied the game had Williams’ foot not been on the line.

“I was behind her, so I saw it was a two,” Copper smiled. “No stress for me. I don’t know about the people on the bench.”

Sunday’s win ends another remarkable streak for the U.S. women’s team. Team USA had won every game by double digits en route to the gold medal game, and the steep third quarter the Americans overcame is a testament to the team’s resilience.

The U.S. women’s national team has not lost a match since it lost to a unified Soviet Union team in the semifinals in Barcelona on August 5, 1992. Only three members of the U.S. team — Taurasi, Alyssa Thomas and Brittney Griner — were alive when that loss occurred. No American under the age of 32 has ever seen the U.S. women’s national team lose a match at the Olympics.

“Understanding the dynasty that’s been built over the years, that they haven’t lost a game, that’s a pressure. But we’re here for a reason and believe in each other,” Ionescu said. “For me, it wasn’t really about not losing, it was more like, I want to hang a gold medal around my neck because if I had silver, it would still be here (left).”

This final gold medal also has a significant symbolic impact on these Games. It is the 40th gold medal that the United States has won, making Team USA tied with China for the most gold medals won by a country. Team USA also finished with a significant lead in total medals, leading China 126-91.

For the U.S. women’s team, there’s no reason to think this gold medal trend won’t continue into the foreseeable future. Women’s basketball doesn’t have the same international talent pool that men’s does. So the U.S. will be heavy favorites to win another gold medal heading into Los Angeles 2028 … but games like this will likely keep the Americans from assuming the medal is theirs before the Olympics begin.

But now it’s time to celebrate. Plum, famous for her victory cigar photos, plans to light up some of her own. “I’m definitely bringing cigars to France. I’m going to make everyone smoke them, to support female enterprise,” she said. “They don’t even know they’re going to smoke cigars, but tonight they’re smoking my cigars.” Victory cigars are the sweetest of all.