Tokyo Olympics: Team USA edge France 87-82, clinch fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal

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Keivn Durant celebrates Gold Medal victory at Tokyo Olympics

It is GOLD once again for Team USA. 

The reigning gold medalists make it four gold medals in a row with a close 87-82 win over France. This is Team USA's 16th gold medal from the 18 Olympics that they have participated in.

Team USA led for a majority of this game (just over 31 of the 40 minutes), but France never let it get away and kept it close until the final seconds. 

Kevin Durant, who was an integral member of the last three gold medal-winning squad, joins Carmelo Anthony as the only Team USA players to win three gold medals. He was the game's top scorer with 29 points, going 9-for-18 from the field and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. 

For France, Rudy Gobert - the NBA's reigning Defensive Player of the Year - and Evan Fournier were the top scorer with 16 points apiece. 

For more on this win, we have you covered with some takes below.

Kevin Durant leads Team USA charge

Durant, arguably the best player in the world right now, led Team USA from the front.

He scored 12 of his 29 in the first quarter when Team USA flipped an early six-point deficit to lead by four. With those points, he passed the 100-point mark in these Olympics and joined some elite company. 

He poured in another nine in the second quarter when Team USA increased their advantage and then dropped another seven in the third period, a quarter in which Team USA exploded for 28 points.  

Despite going scoreless in the fourth, Durant sunk the clutch free-throws in the final seconds that sealed the win for Team USA. 

At the final buzzer, he also finished with six rebounds, three assists and a block. 

Turnovers cost resilient France

Given the firepower they were facing and the deficit they faced, France could have easily given up. Instead, they kept fighting and took the game to the final seconds. 

They were down by 13 in the second quarter and trailed by double-digits for large portions of the third period but battled back. However, their fight wasn't enough and a huge reason for that is the turnover differential. 

They nearly shot as well as Team USA did (their 47 percent narrowly better than Team USA's 46 percent) and they knocked down more 3-pointers, but the 18 turnovers were far too much. Those turnovers led to 20 points for Team USA.

A lot of those turnovers also had to do with the excellent Team USA defence, which recorded nine steals and five blocks. 

Supporting cast steps up for Team USA

While Durant led the way, the second-leading scorer for Team USA has changed nearly every game. In the game that mattered, everybody played their role and stepped up. 

Jayson Tatum came off the bench to score 19 points in just 21 minutes. 10 (all field goals) of Damian Lillard's 11 points came in the second half.  

The duo of Bam Adebayo and Jrue Holiday contributed across the board. The Miami Heat forward finished with six points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks while Holiday recorded 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. 

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