Olympic moment of the day: 3×3 basketball has its first classic final and a potential turning point

It’s a rare moment that a crowd can feel an athlete becoming a major player on the Olympic stage. It’s even rarer for a crowd to feel a sport itself rising to that level.

In just its second ever Olympics, 3×3 basketball was more of a curiosity than a must-see event when these Games began in Paris. Played in front of no fans in Tokyo during its first go-round three years ago, it was a sort of amuse bouche to the main men’s and women’s traditional basketball tournaments.

But on Monday night, 3×3 basketball had its breakout moment.

First, it was the women’s final between Germany and Spain coming down to the final seconds. Sonja Greinacher of Germany hit a two-point shot to give the Germans a 17-15 lead with 30 seconds to play. It was Greinacher’s second massive shot of the day; she had sunk a buzzer-beater in the semifinal to send the Germany through to the final.

Juana Camilion of Spain scored an easy lay-up to cut the deficit to one and then Marie Reichert of Germany traveled on the ensuing possession, giving the Spanish one last shot. And then on the final shot of the game, Gracia Alonso’s desperation shot at the buzzer clanged off the rim.

It was an electric start to the gold medal round and the next game matched its energy.

A thrilling final between host nation France and The Netherlands was absolutely electric from start to finish, the thousands in attendance and watching from beyond the immediate fence of the spectacular venue in central Paris’ La Concorde lived and died with every shot. The peaks and valleys of their noise were incredible, and began before the first inbounds pass was ever played.

As the sun finally settled below the horizon, the City of Light shined beyond this historic square. The Luxor Obelisk, on the spot where the guillotine once stood during the Reign of Terror in France’s revolutionary period, was mere tens of feet away from the court. Historic buildings surrounding the square were glowing and looming in the distance were the spires of Notre Dame, the domes of Les Invalides and the majestic Eiffel Tower.

It was a scene made to be enjoyed and the French crowd certainly did. As soon as the women’s gold medal match ended, the cheers of “Allez, Les Bleus!” began to ring out around the stadium and the French fans waved their phones in the cool nighttime air as they sang along to “Allumer le feu” by Johnny Hallyday, an up-tempo rock song that the crowd knew by heart.

While the stadium itself was packed, throngs of fans crowded around the grandstand to watch the game on the big screen that hung over the court. In a sign of just how momentous of a final this was for the French, a big screen showing the France-Egypt Olympic semifinal soccer game had just a few people around it, hundreds surrounded one nearby showing the 3×3 basketball.

The crowd – heavily French but with a noticeable contingent of Dutch oranje – exploded on every play, groaned on every miss and the tension in the air could be cut with a knife. The noise level went up and up as the French climbed back from an early deficit, taking the lead in the back-and-forth contest into the final seconds.

It looked set to be a gold for the home nation until the Dutch equalized with only seconds to play. At 16-16, the game went into overtime — and its unique rules set it up for even more drama.

In Olympic 3×3 basketball’s overtime, the first team to score two points wins. Each made shot inside the arc is worth one point and each one from the outside is worth two, meaning one shot could win it.

The period started off with Dutch star Worthy de Jong immediately shooting a two-point shot going for the win. He bricked it and the French got the rebound, with Timothé Vergiat driving into the lane for the lay-up putting the French on the verge of the gold medal.

But then de Jong took the ball past the arc and heaved up another two-point shot with seconds remaining and he buried it. The Dutch fans lost their minds as the French crowd fell silent in shock.

For such a young Olympic sport, it was a classic ending worthy of the prestige of the quadrennial competition – a coming-of-age moment for a sport that seems likely to become a staple.