PARIS — From breakfast with Giannis to a drink with LeBron, this was The biggest day of basketball ever played in one place.
The Bercy Arena, best known for hosting tennis and handball tournaments, may not be the ideal host for such an occasion, but welcome to the Olympic basketball quarter-finals, a 13-hour frenzy of basketball like never before seen.
I have nothing against some big state high school tournament or the Final Four or even Rucker Park, but Tuesday was like the first day of March Madness at some subregional site only with crowds of 15,000-plus for all four games; not swathes of empty seats because one team’s fans went out to dinner.
And it turns out that these games featured the best players in the world playing the most skillful and sophisticated basketball imaginable.
Oh, and there were no TV breaks, so the games lasted about two hours.
This was pure madness.
Germany beat Greece in a game that started at 11:00 local time. Serbia then came back to beat Australia in overtime, and France beat Canada in front of a roaring home crowd. Finally, the Americans capped the day as the clock neared midnight by beating Brazil 122-87.
For the United States, led by Devin Booker with 18 points, this was not much of a challenge. The Americans used depth and talent to overwhelm Brazil, avoiding the slow starts that have plagued them here. The only blemish was LeBron taking an unintentional elbow above the eye that required four stitches. Still, the Americans look to be at their best, which is good timing because the challenge is about to become considerable in their quest for a fifth straight gold.
On Thursday, Germany will face France and the United States will face Serbia in the semi-finals, which promise to be more extreme. Or at least that’s what we can hope for.
Put it this way, when 15-year NBA veteran Patty Mills hits a jumper over the outstretched hand of three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić to send the game between Australia and Serbia into overtime and the entire place is kicking, screaming and waving their flags, it’s something straight out of basketball heaven.
Fourteen 2024 NBA All-Stars were on the roster at the Bercy Arena on Tuesday, including six players who have won 13 of the last 16 NBA Most Valuable Player awards: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jokić and Joel Embiid.
Not to mention that Victor Wembanyama was also on the pitch.
They all played like it was a seventh game, because it was a seventh game: a win and nothing more, in the knockout round, with everything at stake, from national pride to a possible medal. Hard fouls. Fights through blocks. Battles on the block. And then there were the passes, the shots, the cuts, the brilliance.
The intensity of the matches, the intensity of the fans, the intensity imposed by those Olympic rings.
You could hear it in the voices of seasoned veterans who had been through it all. This was like nothing else.
“I feel exhausted, honestly,” said Serbian Bogdan Bogdanović, a seven-year NBA veteran.
“The best basketball players in the world,” said Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, runner-up for NBA MVP last season. “It’s a very difficult tournament, if not the most difficult.”
Each game brought a new crowd, with a renewed nationalism and energy for each team. There was no way to beat the French, of course, but chants of “USA, USA” and “BRA-zil” were heard everywhere until the end, even if the result was never in doubt.
Of course, there are always the Serbs, ready to blow the roof off any building they find themselves in.
“We are a passionate country,” Vasilije Micić explained. “A passionate people.”
When the Summer Olympics arrive the Angels In 2028, this will be one of the most coveted tickets to the Games.
David Stern would have loved every jaw-dropping play, every deafening scream. He formed the 1992 Dream Team to inspire the world to take up basketball, and 32 years later, he’s still there.
The United States remains the favorite to win another Olympic gold, but the competition is not only tighter, it’s more varied. It’s no longer the big game when a team takes on the Americans. The drama and rivalries are between them. The celebration of advancement is real. Every match is elite.
The Canada-France match looked as if it were being played at the Cameron Indoor – or Old Trafford – with the host country cheered on by drums, songs and chants.
There were NBA players everywhere, though it was often the efforts of a Euroleague star or a standout player from the Australian Basketball League that made the difference.
Sure, everyone knows Wemby and Rudy Gobert, but Victor only had seven points and Gobert was mostly out recovering from finger surgery.
It didn’t matter. When the French put Mathias Lessort, 2.05 metres and 115 kilos, and Guerschon Yabusele, 2.03 metres and 123 kilos, into the ring together, the Canadians struggled to buckle down and survive. Meanwhile, a French crowd, which knew what was happening, roared with joy.
If the United States faces France in the gold medal final, as is quite possible, it will be an away game and little else.
“We are at home,” said France’s Frank Ntilikina. “We are at home.”
Home to the proof of concept that the Olympic Games could become a stage for truly global competition and a unique environment.
The tournament is now special in itself: future Hall of Famers diving for loose balls, MVPs hitting each other for rebounds, unlikely heroes sinking three-pointers as their countrymen chant in their honor.
Olympic basketball has arrived in all its glory via the most spectacular quadruple header on the greatest day of basketball ever played… at least until they do it again in Los Angeles.
