Celtics Trio Snags Gold Medal At USA-France Olympic Showdown
The Boston Celtics had three representatives -- Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White -- join forces with a star-studded United States team in the 2024 Paris Olympics, which booked a gold medal date against France on Saturday.
For all the marbles, Tatum and Holiday -- who both played off the bench -- combined to score eight points in Team USA's 98-87 victory over Team France. White, who played under seven minutes during the semifinals with Serbia, was benched by United States head coach Steve Kerr for the entirety of the winner-take-all contest at Accor Arena. Meanwhile, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry helped turn a late-game nail-bitter into a cherry-on-top trot across the finish line, draining back-to-back fourth-quarter 3-point daggers while finishing with a team-leading 24 points.
On the opposing side, former Celtics first-rounder Guerschon Yabusele took home a silver medal after scoring 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting. The highlight of the 28-year-old's 2024 Olympic finale, however, came in the form of Yabusele's posterizing slam dunk over NBA all-time leading scorer LeBron James. From there, Yabusele, Victory Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier -- another ex-Celtic -- proceeded to give the United States superteam a run for its money.
Although Tatum, Holiday and White didn't pitch in with MVP-caliber contributions, the three extended what's been the Summer of the Celtics. Nearly two months ago, Tatum, Holiday and White celebrated their NBA Finals victory at TD Garden, followed by a duck boat parade around the streets of Boston. The Celtics rewarded the trio with contract extensions, most notably making Tatum the highest-paid ($313 million) player in league history. They'll return home with some new hardware along with the chance to repeat and birth the next great Celtics dynasty.
For Holiday, the 34-year-old -- for the second time in his career -- won a Finals championship and Olympic gold medal in the same year, joining Scottie Pippen as the only NBA player to do so twice, per ESPN Stats & Info. Holiday's latest trip to the Olympics might've cemented his Hall of Fame case, but there's still four more years in Boston to further polish the 15-year veteran's candidacy.