The US men’s basketball team led by 11-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant faced a shocking 83-76 loss to France at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. This was the first time Team USA’s men’s team had lost at the multi-sport event in seven years.

The French restricted Durant to a mere 10 points in the first-round game. 

When was the last time the US men’s basketball team lost at the Olympics and against whom?

The last time the men’s American team lost at the Basketball event at the Olympics was in 2004, Athens against Argentina. 

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The South Americans led by the likes of Manu Ginobili defeated the US  81–89 in the semi-finals, denying Larry Brown’s team a gold medal. 

This was not the only defeat the US team led by Allen Iverson faced that year. They also went down against Puerto Rico and Lithuania. 

The Athens Games began for the US team that boasted the likes of Dwayne Wade and LeBron James with a stunning defeat to lowly Puerto Rico. The Caribbean island nation defeated the US, 73–92, by 19 points. This stands as the largest margin of defeat for the US in the Olympics. 

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Larry Brown’s men engaged in a close 90-94 loss against Lithuania. The Lithuanians had nearly beaten the Americans in 2000 and Sarunas Jasikevicius made sure his countrymen crossed the line at Athens. 

The Americans had looked rusty in the build-up to Tokyo, losing to Nigeria in a warm-up game, and the defeat will underline Durant’s fears expressed before the Games that his side will not face a “cakewalk” in Japan.

Fournier was sensational for France, top-scoring with 28 points. Although the Boston Celtics player only scored four from 12 from beyond the three-point line, he found his range when it mattered to help the French stun the Americans.

“I tried to be aggressive. As an NBA player I know the players we were facing. We had to show the team how to attack them,” Fournier said.

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France clawed back from a 10-point deficit to set up a breathless final quarter and as the USA failed to find any rhythm, the French smelled victory in the Saitama arena, where spectators were absent because of coronavirus measures.

Fournier’s three-pointer with 57 seconds remaining put his team ahead 76-74 and when Durant hit the rim with a three-pointer himself the French closed out the game with a succession of free throws.

When Jayson Tatum fouled Nicolas Batum, the French veteran NBA forward hit both from the line to seal a famous victory.

Utah Jazz centre Gobert played down the French victory.

“I mean it’s great, but until we have what we want to have around our neck, it doesn’t really matter,” Gobert said.

“Every single guy that came in the game brought us something,” he added.

“It’s really the team that we want to be and it’s exciting for the rest of the tournament.”

The USA face Iran in their next game on Wednesday when France take on host nation Japan.