TOKYO — The men’s basketball tournament at the Tokyo Olympics comes to a close on Saturday with a gold medal game between the United States and France in the morning (Friday night in the United States) and a third-place matchup between Australia and Slovenia later in the day.
The Americans, who have won three straight gold medals in the event dating back to 2008, dropped their tournament opener to France, raising questions about the team’s preparedness for these Games. It did not help they had multiple shaky showings, including two losses, in a run of warm-up games before traveling to Tokyo.