USA basketball will need to get through formidable France

Team USA has been called as good as the Dream Team.

Or better. 

Saturday they get an opportunity to prove it.

A chance at claiming Olympic gold — their fifth straight in men’s basketball. 

After storming back in the semifinals like Noah Lyles in the 100 meters, Team USA faces France at Bercy Arena in a 3:30 p.m. rematch of the Tokyo Olympic final.

And if there’s one squad not deterred by Team USA’s dominance, it’ll be the hosts. 

Team USA is a staggering 35-1 in the Olympics since 2004.

But that one?

It was a loss to France in the group stage at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

They bounced back for an 87-72 win in the gold medal game, the third time they’ve beaten France in the finals.

Now they’ll look to make it a perfect 4-0. 

To do it, they’ll have to overcome phenom Victor Wembanyama and a partisan Parisian crowd.

But Team USA has Hall of Fame-bound superstars such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, a 16-1 mark in Olympic finals, and now the mettle of having been tested and toughened by their narrow semifinal win over Serbia. 

“It’s great to be tested,” James said. “And our ultimate goal is one game away. So we look forward to the matchup on Saturday versus France. 

“I’m 39 years old, going into my 22nd season. I don’t know how many opportunities and moments I’m going to get like this to compete for something, compete for something big and play in big games.” 

Saturday will be the biggest in international play, an opportunity to go beyond being NBA champions or even gold medalists but to become iconic. 

Durant is aiming to claim his record fourth straight gold.

That would break a tie with Carmelo Anthony for the most ever by a men’s basketball player, American or otherwise. 

They will have to do it against Wembanyama, a generational talent who Durant has already praised as the future of the sport. And do it against a crowd that promises to be raucous even before tipoff. 

“It’ll be amazing,” predicted Team USA coach Steve Kerr. “I watched the last quarter of each of the last two France games because they played before us … the crowd was incredible. They kept playing that European anthem that I can’t get out of my head and you guys all know the song. 

“Everybody was just bouncing around and I literally took my phone out and I videoed the crowd because it was so special just to see the energy and enthusiasm. Obviously it will be even louder Saturday night. I can’t wait. I think it will be one of the most fun games that I will ever be a part of.” 

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2024 PARIS OLYMPICS

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Team USA, 5-0 so far in France, will be coming off a game that was more escape than enjoyable.

They trailed Serbia and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic by as many as 17 points, and by 11 with just 7:20 to play. 

Curry poured in 36 points, one shy of Anthony’s U.S. Olympic record, and had nine in the fourth-quarter comeback. Joel Embiid helped slow Jokic. 

But that was a slugfest against a grizzled, physical team.

This will be a contest against a skilled squad of highly-athletic youngsters, and a group surely confident after being the only currently-assembled team to have beaten the U.S. in an Olympics. 

Team USA dropped its group stage opener 83-76 to France in the Tokyo Games just three years ago, before turning the tables to claim gold. 

Now France (4-1) comes in confident after a 73-69 semifinal victory over previously-undefeated Germany, the reigning FIBA World Champions.

They already are assured of being the first hosts to medal since the U.S. won gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. 

But to make it gold, they’ll have to deal with James, Durant and Curry — part of a juggernaut that Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic called the best in Olympic history. 

“They’re that good,” Pesic insisted. 

Now it’s time to prove it.