USA basketball team edges France

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Three wins from gold, and still no reason to think it will be easy for the U.S. men’s basketball team.

This is a bumpy road in Rio, but at least the Americans know Klay Thompson is finally along for the ride.

Thompson ended an Olympic-long slump with seven 3-pointers and 30 points, and the Americans needed almost all of them to hold off France 100-97 on Sunday.

The U.S. won its 50th straight tournament game, but the last three have been nothing like most of the previous 47.

“We’ve obviously had three close games in a row by our standards,” forward Kevin Durant said. “A win is a win. We’ve got to think about how we can be better but we can’t be satisfied.”