LONDON — It may have been the biggest French faux pas of the Olympics.
Moments after Team USA’s men’s basketball team fried the French yesterday, 98-71, in its Olympic opener yesterday before 12,000 at Olympic Park’s basketball arena, Nicolas Batum wasn’t convinced.
The Frenchman and rising NBA star said the American juggernaut can be beaten — not by only one Olympic club, but several.
“You have to play a 40-minute game [to do it],’’ said Batum, who plays for the Trail Blazers. “Rebound, take care of the ball and play good defense. Some team can do it. I think some team can beat them, really. Spain, Argentina, Brazil. A lot of teams can beat them.’’
Oh those French. USA looked invincible after the first quarter as it forced France into 18 turnovers and outrebounded it, 56-40, to get off to an Olympic start as sweet as fresh French pastry.
But a 27-point win against a good French club wasn’t good enough for Batum, who may want to watch when the Americans face Tunisia tomorrow in what will be the Olympics’ biggest mismatch.
“We didn’t play a perfect game,’’ LeBron James said. “We still have room for improvement.’’
That’s the scary part of this apparent invincibility. France kept it close for the first quarter. A Yannick Bokolo 3-pointer at the buzzer sliced Team USA’s lead to 22-21.
Mike Krzyzewski’s crew had enough and broke out on a 11-0 run to start the second quarter, ignited by a James 3-pointer 28 seconds into the period. Kobe Bryant followed with another trey and the French were reeling and trailing 33-21 with 7:46 left in the half. USA drilled six 3-pointers during the second-period splurge and it was never a game again.
Kevin Durant finished with 22 points and nine rebounds, James had eight assists and starting center Tyson Chandler was extremely active with eight points and nine rebounds. His Knicks teammate Carmelo Anthony finished with nine points and nine rebounds despite foul trouble.
French point guard Tony Parker had a good start but finished with just 10 points. Parker wore protective, designer goggles as he recovers from a bottle-throwing incident at a New York nightclub that caused him to have eye surgery.
“The first half, France did what they had to do,’’ said Anthony, who picked up his third foul midway through the second quarter, sending him to the bench. “They slowed up the game. We know everyone’s expecting us to win by 20, 30 points, but at the end of the day, a win is a win.’’
First Lady Michelle Obama was in the crowd that was 60-40 in favor of the Americans. She received hugs from the American players after the blowout victory after James led the squad over to her. The American fans chanted “USA’’ moments before the opening tip and again even louder with 2:08 left in the half with the team up 16.
Tickey-tack fouls plagued Team USA early.
“It should have been a bigger lead in the first quarter,’’ Chandler said. “We gambled a lot. When we gambled, we didn’t come away with steals so we gave them layups and free throws. Once we stopped that, we extended the lead.’’
In his Summer Games debut, Chandler scored the first points of the Olympics for USA. He converted an alley-oop lob from James to easily score over ex-Knicks center Ronny Turiaf and got fouled.
“It was a great feeling,’’ said Chandler, whose dirty-work job on this club is usually do everything but score.
Chandler was active early on offense and had six points in the opening four minutes. In the opening minute of the third, Chandler ripped down an offensive rebound and fed it back to Durant, who drained a 3-pointer. An ensuing Chandler dunk put the Americans up 22 points, 60-38.
Chandler, the team’s lone center, is the one Olympian who hasn’t been asked to change up his game much to fit in, as Anthony has.
“That’s the good part,’’ Chandler said. “But Coach wants me to be more aggressive on the offensive end as far as setting screens and slipping going after the basketball. It’s comfortable for me. It’s just different teammates. On your own team, you don’t have four stars around you. But it’s probably the least [change].’’
Anthony, meanwhile, is not in the starting lineup and admits to “an adjustment.’’
Anthony came off the bench and swished his first attempt — an 18-foot jumper. But he picked up his third foul with 6:20 left in the half after grabbing Boris Diaw, sending him bench-bound.
“I wasn’t frustrated, but it was a bad time,’’ Anthony said. “I didn’t think I fouled him at all.
“There were some calls where we looked up and we were like: What are we doing wrong? We know that our mind-set is that from here on out we know how that’s going to be officiated, we have to live with that.’’
Team USA took a 52-36 lead into halftime and the club played unselfishly. It notched 27 assists on its 31 buckets and didn’t let France breathe on offense.
Nets point guard Deron Williams had a handful of nifty assists, notching six. He fed James on a fastbreak alley-oop dunk in the second half and made a touch, behind-the-back pass to Durant on a fastbreak.
“I felt pretty good out there,’’ Williams said. “I felt good things going on offense and passing the ball felt great.’’
And ultimately they looked unbeatable.
marc.berman@nypost.com