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Basketball, Men

Date25 July – 7 August 2021
StatusOlympic
LocationSaitama Super Arena, Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Participants143 from 12 countries
FormatRound-robin pools advance teams to classification matches.

All the games took place at Saitama Super Arena. There was a minor change in the format, as the last several Olympics had two groups of 6 teams each, with eight teams advancing to a knockout stage. In Tokyo the groups were changed into three groups of 4 teams each, again with eight teams entering the single elimination phase.

The United States had won gold in 2008, 2012, and 2016 but seemed more vulnerable in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic had forced the NBA season to start later and finish only the week before the Olympics. With that late finish many of the best American players elected not to compete at the Olympics. In addition, in pre-Olympic games, both Nigeria and Australia defeated the USA men, and the United States’ Olympic dominance seemed in danger.

One other change was that long-time Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who had coached the United States’ team at the last three Olympics, had stepped down, with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich now in charge. It was likely a minor change as Popovich was one of the greatest coaches in NBA annals.

Once in Tokyo, France defeated the United States in the first group match, 83-76, further inflaming their critics. France went on to win Group A, while the USA finished second but still advanced to the knockout rounds. The other groups were won by Australia and Slovenia, which was led by 2019 NBA Rookie of the Year Luka Dončić, who scored 48 points again Argentina in their group match-up.

Sparked by Kevin Durant, who would win his third gold medal, the USA won their quarter-final over Spain, 95-81 and then beat Australia quite comfortably in the semi-finals, seemingly getting stronger with each game. In the other half of the bracket, France defeated Italy and then Slovenia to earn a re-match with the Americans. The final was relatively close, but the United States was in charge the entire second half and finally won gold by 87-82. Australia defeated Slovenia, 107-93, to take the bronze medal, giving the Aussies their first Olympic medal in men’s basketball after four fourth-place finishes (1988, 1996, 2000, 2016).

PosNumberTeamNOC
1United StatesUSAGold
4Keldon Johnson
5Zach LaVine
6Damian Lillard
7Kevin Durant
8Khris Middleton
9Jerami Grant
10Jayson Tatum
11JaVale McGee
12Jrue Holiday
13Bam Adebayo
14Draymond Green
15Devin Booker
CoachGregg Popovich
2FranceFRASilver
1Frank Ntilikina
3Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot
4Thomas Heurtel
5Nicolas Batum
7Guerschon Yabusele
10Evan Fournier
12Nando de Colo
17Vincent Poirier
21Andrew Albicy
27Rudy Gobert
28Petr Cornelie
93Moustapha Fall
CoachVincent Collet
3AustraliaAUSBronze
4Chris Goulding
5Patty Mills
6Josh Green
7Joe Ingles
8Matt Dellavedova
9Nathan Sobey
10Matisse Thybulle
11Danté Exum
12Aron Baynes
13Jock Landale
14Duop Reath
15Nick Kay
CoachBrian Goorjian
4SloveniaSLO
5Luka Rupnik
6Aleksej Nikolić
7Klemen Prepelič
8Edo Murić
10Mike Tobey
11Jaka Blažič
15Gregor Hrovat
27Žiga Dimec
30Zoran Dragić
31Vlatko Čančar
55Jakob Čebašek
77Luka Dončić
CoachAleksander Sekulić
5ItalyITA
0Marco Spissu
1Niccolò Mannion
7Stefano Tonut
8Danilo Gallinari
9Nicolò Melli
13Simone Fontecchio
16Amedeo Tessitori
17Giampaolo Ricci
24Riccardo Moraschini
31Michele Vitali
33Achille Polonara
54Alessandro Pajola
CoachRomeo Sacchetti
6SpainESP
3Xabi López-Arostegui
4Pau Gasol
5Rudy Fernández
6Sergio Rodríguez
9Ricky Rubio
10Víctor Claver
13Marc Gasol
14Willy Hernangómez
16Usman Garuba
20Alberto Abalde
21Álex Abrines
23Sergio Llull
CoachSergio Scariolo
7ArgentinaARG
4Luis Scola
7Facu Campazzo
8Nicolás Laprovíttola
9Nico Brussino
10Leandro Bolmaro
11Francisco Cáffaro
12Marcos Delía
14Gabriel Deck
17Luca Vildoza
22Juan Pablo Vaulet
29Patricio Garino
83Tayavek Gallizzi
CoachSergio Hernández
8GermanyGER
0Isaac Bonga
1Joshiko Saibou
4Maodo Lô
5Niels Giffey
6Jan Niklas Wimberg
7Johannes Voigtmann
12Robin Benzing
13Moritz Wagner
19Lukas Wank
22Danilo Barthel
32Johannes Thiemann
42Andreas Obst
CoachHenrik Rödl
9Czech RepublicCZE
1Patrik Auda
4Tomáš Vyoral
8Tomáš Satoranský
11Blake Schilb
12Ondřej Balvín
13Jakub Šiřina
15Martin Peterka
17Jaromír Bohačík
19Ondřej Sehnal
23Lukáš Palyza
24Jan Veselý
25David Jelínek
CoachRonen Ginzburg
10NigeriaNGR
0KZ Okpala
3Caleb Agada
8Ekpe Udoh
10Chimezie Metu
11Obi Emegano
13Miye Oni
15Jahlil Okafor
20Josh Okogie
22Gabe Vincent
33Jordan Nwora
34Ike Nwamu
55Precious Achiuwa
CoachMike Brown
11JapanJPN
2Yuki Togashi
6Makoto Hiejima
8Rui Hachimura
9Leo Vendrame
12Yuta Watanabe
14Kosuke Kanamaru
18Yudai Baba
23Gavin Earl Edwards
24Daiki Tanaka
32Avi Koki Schafer
88Tenketsu Harimoto
34Hugh Watanabe DNS
CoachJulio Lamas
12Islamic Republic of IranIRI
3Mohammadsina Vahedi
5Philip Jalalpoor
7Mohammad Hassanzadeh
8Saeid Davarpanah
13Mohammad Jamshidi
14Samad Nikkhah Bahrami
15Hamed Haddadi
17Navid Rezaeifar
20Mike Rostampour
23Aaron Geramipoor
41Arsalan Kazemi
88Behnam Yakhchali
CoachMehran Shahintab

Preliminary Round

Date25 July – 1 August 2021

Group A

Date25 – 31 July 2021
FormatRound-robin pools.
PosTeamNOCWinsLossesPointsPoints
1FranceFRA306259-215
2United StatesUSA214315-233
3Czech RepublicCZE122245-294
4Islamic Republic of IranIRI030206-283
MatchDate/TimeTeamNOCResultTeamNOC
Match #125 Jul 10:00Czech RepublicCZE84 – 78Islamic Republic of IranIRI
Match #225 Jul 21:00FranceFRA83 – 76United StatesUSA
Match #328 Jul 13:40United StatesUSA120 – 66Islamic Republic of IranIRI
Match #428 Jul 21:00FranceFRA97 – 77Czech RepublicCZE
Match #531 Jul 10:00FranceFRA79 – 62Islamic Republic of IranIRI
Match #631 Jul 21:00United StatesUSA119 – 84Czech RepublicCZE

Group B

Date25 – 31 July 2021
FormatRound-robin pools.
PosTeamNOCWinsLossesPointsPoints
1AustraliaAUS306259-226
2ItalyITA214255-239
3GermanyGER122257-273
4NigeriaNGR030230-263
MatchDate/TimeTeamNOCResultTeamNOC
Match #125 Jul 13:40ItalyITA92 – 82GermanyGER
Match #225 Jul 17:20AustraliaAUS84 – 67NigeriaNGR
Match #328 Jul 10:00GermanyGER99 – 92NigeriaNGR
Match #428 Jul 17:20AustraliaAUS86 – 83ItalyITA
Match #531 Jul 13:40ItalyITA80 – 71NigeriaNGR
Match #631 Jul 17:20AustraliaAUS89 – 76GermanyGER

Group C

Date26 July – 1 August 2021
FormatRound-robin pools.
PosTeamNOCWinsLossesPointsPoints
1SloveniaSLO306329-268
2SpainESP214256-243
3ArgentinaARG122268-276
4JapanJPN030235-301
MatchDate/TimeTeamNOCResultTeamNOC
Match #126 Jul 13:40SloveniaSLO118 – 100ArgentinaARG
Match #226 Jul 21:00SpainESP88 – 77JapanJPN
Match #329 Jul 13:40SloveniaSLO116 – 81JapanJPN
Match #429 Jul 21:00SpainESP81 – 71ArgentinaARG
Match #501 Aug 13:40ArgentinaARG97 – 77JapanJPN
Match #601 Aug 17:40SloveniaSLO95 – 87SpainESP

Quarter-Finals

Date3 August 2021 — 10:00
FormatWinner of each match advanced to the semi-finals.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #103 Aug 10:00SloveniaSLO94 – 70GermanyGER
Match #203 Aug 13:40United StatesUSA95 – 81SpainESP
Match #303 Aug 17:20FranceFRA84 – 75ItalyITA
Match #403 Aug 21:00AustraliaAUS97 – 59ArgentinaARG

Semi-Finals

Date5 August 2021 — 13:15
FormatWinner of each match advanced to the final round.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #105 Aug 13:15United StatesUSA97 – 78AustraliaAUS
Match #205 Aug 20:00FranceFRA90 – 89SloveniaSLO

Final Round

Date7 August 2021 — 11:30
FormatMedal round.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match 1/207 Aug 11:30United StatesUSA87 – 82FranceFRA
Match 3/407 Aug 20:00AustraliaAUS107 – 93SloveniaSLO