On Saturday, for the fifth consecutive Summer Olympics, Team USA won the gold medal in men’s basketball, beating France on their home floor 98-87.
And for Celtics fans who tuned in to see if Boston’s three representatives would have an impact on the game, they would be disappointed.
Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White combined for 8 points, with White not seeing the floor after seven minutes of action in Team USA’s epic 95-91 semifinal win over three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic’s Serbia.
Individually, Tatum had just 2 points on 1 of 3 shooting in just over 11 minutes on the floor. He also had 3 rebounds and missed his lone three-point attempt.
Tatum’s quiet day comes just one game after being a healthy scratch against Serbia. And that healthy scratch came after scoring just 5 points in 20 minutes against Brazil in the quarterfinals.
A gold medal is a gold medal, but Saturday’s muted performance from Tatum is the capper on an inconsistent Olympics for the three-time first-team All-NBA forward. Both his play on the floor and his spot in the rotation were never able to solidify.
Jrue Holiday, on the other hand, was consistently a part of Team USA’s closing group throughout the Olympics, with his patented elite defense on display. Holiday’s switchability and work off-the-ball made him an asset for the world’s best basketball team.
In the Gold Medal Final, Holiday scored 6 points on 2 of 5 shooting, with 4 assists and 1 rebound. He was 2-4 from beyond the arc, and played just under 19 minutes overall.
Most notably, Holiday started the fourth quarter, and was a part of the rotation during the waning moments of the game.
Oddly enough, it was a former Celtic who had the largest impact on this one, as Guerschon Yabusele filled it up for France.
Yabusele had 20 points on 6 of 14 shooting, with 2 rebounds and 2 steals in 31 minutes of action.
And to go along with that impressive boxscore, Yabusele had the two biggest highlights of the first half - a posterization of LeBron James on the low block with 2:13 to go in the second quarter, and a buzzer-beating reverse layup to close out the half after absorbing major contact from Anthony Davis under the basket.
Yabusele was drafted 16th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Celtics. After playing the 2016-17 season for the Shanghai Sharks of the CBA, he played for both Boston and the Maine Red Claws during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. Since leaving the Boston organization after the 2018-19 season, he has played professionally in China, France and Spain.
Yabusele is not France’s only former Celtic, as guard Evan Fournier was also a big part of their rotation. He scored 8 points in nearly 19 minutes of action.
Fournier spent part of one season in Boston, after he was traded there in March 2021 from the Orlando Magic for Jeff Teague and two future second round picks. It was a mostly disappointing run in green, and he signed with the New York Knicks that summer during free agency.
Although former Celtics shined, it’s the current Celtics that will be coming home with gold medals.
How this strange summer in Paris will impact Tatum next season as he looks to defend his NBA title remains to be seen.