Netherlands Beats France to Win Gold Medal in Men's Olympic 3x3 Basketball Bracket
Aug 5, 2024
PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 05: Worthy de Jong #54 of Team Netherlands drives past Franck Seguela #21 of Team France during a Men's 3x3 basketball Gold medal game between the Netherlands and France on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Esplanade Des Invalides on August 05, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
The Netherlands are the second-ever 3x3 basketball gold medalist.
After Japan won gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in the first year of the event, the Netherlands defeated France 18-17 on Monday to claim gold in Paris.
France defeated the world No. 1 Serbia in a play-in game before defeating Latvia in the semifinal while the Netherlands dominated Lithuania 21-9 in the semifinal to advance to the gold medal game.
The two teams battled back and forth for the entirety of the game and the Netherlands' Arvin Slagter hit a clutch two-pointer to tie things up going into the final minute. Down one with 16 seconds remaining, the Netherlands missed a two to take the lead but Worthy de Jong got the rebound to tie it up with a layup and send the game to overtime.
After his clutch layup to send it to overtime, de Jong came out as the hero in extra time, hitting a two-pointer to give the Netherlands the win. Though he was 0-of-6 on two-pointers in regulation, de Jong made the one that mattered most, and now he has a gold medal to show for it.
De Jong finished with seven points, Jan Driessen added 6, Slagter had three and Dimeo van der Horst put up two in the win.
The Netherlands now has 17 total medals, seven of which are gold.
