The U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team Lost for the First Time in More Than 15 Years

The superstar lineup dropped its first game of the 2020 Olympics to France.

USA Basketball Loss France
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Things are off to a sour start for the US men's basketball team at the Olympics under coach Gregg Popovich. 

Team USA has won three straight gold medals in the Summer Olympics under former coach Mike Krzyzewski. That 25-game winning streak came to an end on Sunday with an 83-76 loss to France.

This is Team USA's first Olympic loss since the knockout round of the 2004 Olympics when it lost to Argentina, who went on to win gold. The US won its subsequent game to grab bronze. Sunday's loss won't be quite as devastating. It was the US's first game in Tokyo. Next, the team will face Iran and the Czech Republic in the group play stage before potentially moving on to the knockout rounds, where it could plausibly face France again. 

Despite Olympic basketball surfacing memories of the formidable 90's Dream Team and teams that have won gold in six of the last seven Olympics, this squad has already gone through struggles during a four-game exhibition in Las Vegas prior to the start of Tokyo 2020. The US took losses to both Nigeria and Australia in that set of exhibition games. 

One bright spot was the arrival of Milwaukee Bucks forward Jrue Holiday, who joined the team about 24 hours before the game after celebrating the Bucks' NBA championship. But his 12-point fourth-quarter performance wasn't enough, even with the US briefly taking the lead late in the game. 

The US men's basketball team will have its next game on Wednesday against Iran. 

Check back during the games for all of Thrillist’s continuing Olympics coverage. Think of us like an all-knowing friend watching along with you to answer all the most important questions, like how heavy Olympic medals are, or why this year’s games are still called the 2020 Olympics. We'll explain everything from what ROC means to why athletes are sleeping on cardboard beds, and much, much more.
 

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Dustin Nelson is a Senior Staff Writer at Thrillist. Follow Dustin Nelson on Twitter.