Paris 2024 men’s basketball: ‘Chef’ Curry dices up France to lead Team USA to fifth gold medal in a row
When the last one splashed through the hoop, when he shimmied to create space between Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum, Stephen Curry sprinted down the floor with the energy and vigor of a child, pressing his hands against his head in a sleeping motion.
He had put another opponent into hibernation, this time on basketball’s grandest stage on his Olympic debut. Team USA needed every bit of Curry’s heroics to beat France 98-87 at Bercy Arena, with the Golden State Warriors superstar carving up the French defense with a once-in-a-lifetime display.
He drained four three-pointers in the span of two minutes, 12 seconds, sealing the victory and the USA’s fifth consecutive gold medal. The NBA has witnessed Curry’s legendary shooting for 15 years, but he had never participated in a Games until the Olympic Games Paris 2024 - and it was well worth the wait.
“We always say, ‘Do what the game calls for’,” Curry said. “You just stay confident, stay present and don’t get rattled by the moment. Those last two and a half minutes were special, guys were hyping me up. Like I was saying before, every shot you take you think is going in. That (final one) was a solid flurry of shots. All I saw was the rim; I didn’t see who was in front of me.
“I impressed myself with that one, for sure.”
Gold medalists Team USA pose for a photo after the men's basketball ceremony
Team France look to the future
Curry hit 17 three-pointers in the semi-finals and finals for the Americans. France valiantly tried sending two defenders at the premium shooter, but to no avail. Curry has seen every defense, every coverage and he moves so well without the ball and his release is so fast that he’s almost impossible to stop.
France found out the hard way, ruining a valiant effort behind bowling-ball forward Guerschon Yabusele and 20-year-old Victor Wembanyama, who led the French with 26 points on 11-for-19 shooting with seven rebounds, putting the team on his shoulders.
It was close but not enough.
“I’m proud having done what we have done here in France in front of our fans,” Wembanyama said. “I’m going to let this soak in and realize what’s going on. Nobody is going to take (that experience) from me. I’m learning. I’m worried for the opponents in a couple of years, everywhere. We’re growing. Basketball is growing here (in France).”
Team USA nearly watched its gold medal hopes die on Thursday against Serbia when it needed a furious rally in the final minutes to overcome an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit. On Saturday, USA led for the final 34 minutes, 35 seconds, spending the late evening staving off rallies from a French team that would not relent.
A 7-0 run capped by a Wembanyama tip brought France to within 82-79 with 2 minutes, 57 seconds left, and that’s when the Curry barrage began. During a timeout, Curry approached Steve Kerr about running pick-and-rolls with LeBron James to create open looks.
“When Steph said, ‘Let’s do a side pick and roll’, I just said, ‘Be careful on the blitz’ because they had forced a bunch of turnovers,” Kerr said. “But he wanted to do it and he was dead on, he got the match-up he wanted and the guys did a great job of executing it.”
That play created the first of the four three-pointers, with Curry slipping a pick on Yabusele and then swishing a three from the top of the key. On the next one, James set for Curry, who shook Batum for enough space to peg a three from the left elbow. And on the third, Curry took a pass from a driving Devin Booker, and Nando de Colo took his eyes off Curry for a split second. The result: swish.
“You just simply marvel in his talent,” James said. “Obviously, I’ve seen it before on the opposite side; you’ve just got to keep finding ways to keep getting him the ball.”
LeBron James hugs teammate Jrue Holiday after the USA victory against Team France in the men's basketball final
Team USA reach destination after long journey
The win culminates a two-year journey where James began texting potential team members about gathering for another gold medal run. James, Curry and Kevin Durant watched Team USA finish fourth in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, then texts intensified and all agreed to play together for the first time.
Joel Embiid, recently a United States citizen, agreed to join the club, giving Team USA 11 NBA All-Stars and four former league MVPs. Kerr relied heavily on his veteran players. James is 39. Curry is 36 and Durant turns 36 next month. Yet they were the best three players on the squad and they sacrificed to reach another gold, knowing there would be considerable challenges, such as those epic games against Serbia and France.
“It didn’t surprise me; There’s a reason these guys signed up for this,” Kerr said. “The Olympics are special. These guys play for NBA championships and Olympic golds. Those are the pinnacles of success as a player. There’s a reason Kevin keeps doing this - he loves it. All the guys love it.
“Watching the game against Serbia back, I don’t know if I have ever seen these guys on an individual level show that much emotion. To come back the way they did against Serbia shows how much it means to them. To be part of it and try to help them along the way, we just try to give them some advice and feelers. It’s bigger than almost anything else you can experience as a group. It’s really special, it’s why these guys sign up for it. You can’t buy this experience of working with a group and experiencing something special.”
Curry walks away from Saturday’s game as a gold medalist and basking in the glow of his first Olympic experience. Sixteen-year NBA veterans generally do not have many first-time experiences or new adventures, but Curry’s time in France was gratifying.
“I have seen other medal ceremonies at other events and I have seen (Durant) get all three of his,” Curry said. “I have watched and envisioned what that would feel like. It wasn’t really something to knock off my resume, it was more of something I never got to experience and now knowing what it would be like. To your point, I was just smiling... having the best time of my life, taking it all in because you never know if this moment would happen again.”
Gary Washburn is an Olympic Channel correspondent and National NBA Writer for the Boston Globe.