PARIS (AP) — Worthy de Jong made the switch to 3×3 basketball after a long career in 5×5 play because he’d lost his joy for the game.
Now he’s an Olympic gold medalist.
De Jong’s 2-pointer in overtime lifted the Netherlands to an 18-17 win over France and the gold medal in men’s 3×3 at the Paris Games on Monday night.
“I started to feel like that kid that fell in love with basketball all over again,” he said. “So to go from there to this right now, that just shows that if you work hard and if you enjoy what you do, a lot of things are possible.”
Timothe Vergiat put France up with a 1-point basket. De Jong then stepped back and drained a 2 to close out overtime, where the first team to score two points wins.
The almost exclusively pro-France crowd fell quiet as de Jong was mobbed by his teammates.
De Jong also stepped up in regulation, too. He scored with 27 seconds left before driving into the lane for a layup with 1 second to go, tying it at 16.
He had seven points for the Netherlands.
He hopes the success of the team will lead to more interest in basketball in his country.
“Before 3×3 basketball, we were never in a position to make it to the Olympics or even make it to a world championship,” de Jong said. “So to be here and get a gold medal, I hope it shows how beautiful the sport is and inspires a lot of players and kids to go on this journey.”
Dimeo Van der Horst cut the lead to one on a layup with 52 seconds to go in regulation, but a basket by Franck Seguela pushed France’s lead to 16-14.
Lucas Dussoulier and Seguela each scored five points for France, which won silver.
The game was tied with about three minutes left when Vergiat found Jules Rambaut for an easy basket to put France on top.
Dussoulier made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 13-11 a minute later.
A 2-pointer by Arvin Slagter tied it again with just over a minute remaining. Seguela made two free throws to put France up 15-13 with a minute left.
Sarunas Vingelis had nine points to give Lithuania a 21-18 win over defending champion Latvia for the bronze. Latvia went 7-0 in pool play before losing twice Monday to go home without a medal.
“We created history and I am very proud of my teammates,” Lithuania’s Gintautas Matulis said. “I am very happy, very excited, and we are going to celebrate for sure.”
France reached the final with a 21-14 win over Latvia. Dussoulier had nine points and seven rebounds to lead the way.
Latvia pulled within three with about two minutes to go. But France used a 4-0 run to close it out.
“We lost because we cracked under the pressure,” Latvia’s Karlis Lasmanis said. “We were not ready for that. We won all the pool games and we thought it would be easier than it was.”
De Jong scored eight points to lead the Netherlands to a 20-6 win over Lithuania to move the team into the gold-medal game.
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