2024 Olympics: Team USA 3×3 eliminated after 21-6 loss to the Netherlands

PARIS — Facing elimination and down a man due to injury, Team USA’s 3×3 men’s team faced off against the Netherlands in the final game of the Olympics’ pool round, and was run off the court, losing 21-6.

With NBA commissioner Adam Silver in attendance, the teams took the court at 7 p.m. Paris time, and the setting sun directly behind the backboard cast long shadows over the Place de la Concorde blacktop. Team USA was introduced first, and the injured Jimmer Fredette was the first player out of the tunnel. Canyon Barry, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis would be playing every minute of the game against the Netherlands.

Travis picked up Team USA’s first points with a two-pointer from the left side, but the U.S. appeared ragged in the opening minutes, allowing easy backdoor baskets and an alley-oop, airballing multiple shots and committing penalties like traveling and shot clock violations. Still, the defense kept Team USA in the game in the opening minutes.

The Netherlands took a 5-4 lead just under three minutes into the game, and quickly extended it to 12-5 with a flurry of two-point shots just prior to the halfway point. The Netherlands’ defense and shotmaking were just too much for the United States to handle, and once the score hit 15-6, frustration was evident on Team USA. Maddox fouled Worthy de Jong hard enough to send him crashing to the ground, drawing a technical foul and allowing the Netherlands to extend the lead to 17-6.

De Jong kept firing and kept hitting, and when a timeout mercifully stopped the action, the Netherlands led 19-6. Fredette tried to rally his teammates, but by then it was far too late. With one final shot, de Jong nailed a two-pointer to end the game and Team USA’s Olympic run, 21-6.

The Olympics is now over for the men’s 3×3 team, a disappointing end for a team that’s spent the last two years preparing for this moment.