PARIS — From breakfast with Giannis to a bedtime drink with LeBron, this was the greatest day of basketball ever played in one place.
The Bercy Arena – known for hosting tennis and handball tournaments – may not be the likely host for such a moment, but welcome to the Olympic basketball quarter-finals, where there will be 13 hours of basketball madness like we have never seen before.
Nothing against some great state high school tournaments or the Final Four or even Rucker Park, but Tuesday was like the first day of March Madness at some sub-regional site only with crowds of more than 15,000 for all four games; not swathes of empty seats because one team’s fans went out to dinner.
These games happen to feature the best players in the world who play the most skilled and advanced basketball ever.
Oh, and there were no TV breaks, so the games lasted about two hours.
This was a pure episode.
Germany beat Greece in a game that started at 11 a.m. local time. Serbia then came back strong to beat Australia in overtime, and France beat Canada in front of a raucous home crowd. And finally, the United States ended the day by beating Brazil 122-87 as the clock struck midnight.
For the United States, led by Devin Booker’s 18 points, it was no big challenge. The Americans used their depth and talent to beat Brazil, avoiding the slow starts that have plagued them here. The only blemish was LeBron’s elbow above his eye that required four stitches. Still, the Americans seemed to be hitting their stride at the right time, which is good timing because the stakes are about to get big in their quest for a fifth straight gold medal.
Germany vs. France, and the United States vs. Serbia, will be played on Thursday in the semifinals, which somehow promises to be even more extreme. Or we can hope so.
Let’s put it this way: When Patty Mills, a 15-year NBA veteran, hits a rebound shot over the hand of three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic to send Australia-Serbia into overtime, and everyone is pounding the floor, cheering and waving flags, it looks like basketball heaven.
The 2024 NBA All-Star Game was held at Bercy Arena on Tuesday. Among them were six players who have won 13 of the last 16 NBA Most Valuable Player Awards — LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jokic and Joel Embiid.
Not to mention, Victor Wiambanayama was also on the field.
Everyone played like it was Game 7 because it was Game 7 – the game here in the knockout round, with everything on the line from national pride to a possible medal. Tough fouls. Fights across the fences. Battles on the block. Then there was the passing, the shooting, the hitting, the finesse.
The intensity of the games, the intensity of the fans, the intensity of those Olympic rings.
You could hear it in the voices of the veterans who had been through it all. This was like nothing else.
“I’m exhausted, honestly,” said Serbian Bogdan Bogdanovic, who played in the NBA for seven years.
“It’s a very tough tournament, if not the toughest ever,” said Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, last season’s NBA Most Valuable Player runner-up.
Each match featured a new crowd, a new national spirit and a new energy for each team. There was no French superiority here, of course, but the mutual chants of “USA, USA” and “Brazil-Zel” were everywhere late in the game, if the result was not in doubt.
Of course, there are always Serbs ready to blow the roof off any building they find themselves in.
“We are an emotional country,” Vasile Mičić explained. “Emotional people.”
When the Summer Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028, this will be one of the hottest tickets at the Games.
David Stern would have loved every amazing play and every ear-splitting scream. He created the Dream Team in 1992 to inspire the world to play basketball, and 32 years later that team is here.
The United States remains the favorite to win another Olympic gold medal, but the competition is not only fiercer, it is more diverse. The big game is no longer one team playing the Americans. It is drama and rivalry among themselves. The celebration of progress is real. And every game is elite.
The Canada-France match looked like it was being played inside Cameron Indoor Stadium – or Old Trafford – as the host nation went into a frenzy with drums, songs and chants.
There were NBA players everywhere, although it was often the efforts of Euroleague or A-League stars that made the difference.
Sure, everyone knows about Wimpy and Rudy Gobert, but Victor only scored seven points and Gobert was sidelined most of the time recovering from finger surgery.
It didn’t matter. When the Frenchmen Mathias Lesort (6-9) and Gershon Yabusile (6-8) and 271 pounds were put together, the Canadians struggled to hold their chin straps and stay alive. Meanwhile, the cognizant French crowd roared with joy.
If the United States meets France in the gold medal final, which is very likely, it will be an away game and more.
“We have returned home,” said Frank Ntilikina from France.
Home to the proof of concept that the Olympic Games can become a stage for truly global competition and a unique environment.
The tournament is now special in its own right – with future Hall of Famers diving for loose balls, MVPs competing with each other for rebounds, and unlikely heroes scoring hat tricks while their countrymen sing in their honor.
Olympic basketball reached full capacity here with the greatest foursome on the best day of basketball ever…at least until they do it again in Los Angeles.