Curry hits four three-pointers in two minutes to lead America to gold
With three minutes remaining, the French had rallied to make it a three-point game.
Then Stephen Curry did what only Curry does, knocking down a deep three to kill off a French comeback just when hope was at an all-night high.
Stephen Curry bids the French goodnight as he closes out the basketball final and the United States win gold.Credit: Getty
Curry then did it again. Then he did it one more time. Then another for good measure. The gold medal was heading to the Americans yet again.
The Golden State Warriors superstar knocked down 12 points in a two-minute blitz that brought out his trademark celebration, saying goodnight to France in the most comprehensive close-out of a game in recent memory.
“There’s a lot of relief,” Curry said. “It wasn’t easy but, damn, I’m excited, man. This is everything that I wanted it to be and more, so I’m excited.”
The gold-medal match also marked the last time LeBron James – the greatest athlete on the planet and arguably the greatest in sporting history, given his longevity – would don the United States jersey.
LeBron James shines yet again in his appropriate gold footwear.Credit: Getty
The 39-year-old led his country to its 17th Olympic men’s basketball gold medal alongside an entourage of basketballers that some experts believe rivals Michael Jordan’s 1992 ‘dream team’.
It was difficult to work out what was more impressive. The level of shine on James’ custom-made golden shoes or the fact he left with a medal to match.
In a rematch of the final from the Tokyo Games three years earlier, the United States made it five gold medals on the trot with a 98-87 victory over host nation France in Paris on Sunday morning.
French superstar Victor Wembanyama, last year’s No.1 NBA Draft pick and San Antonio Spurs sensation, was born some 2½ months after James made his NBA debut as the No.1 pick for Cleveland 21 years ago.
NBA superstars LeBron James and Steph Curry combined spectacularly.Credit: AP
It said more about James’ longevity than Wembanyama’s youth that, after choosing to sit out the past two Olympic Games, the 39-year-old was returning to play in his fourth.
After playing a starring role in overcoming a 17-point deficit to topple Nikola Jokic and Serbia in an epic semi-final two days earlier, James showed every bit of his experience to block out an intimidating environment and collect his third gold medal, to go with his four NBA championship rings. He finished the match with 14 points, six rebounds and 10 assists.
“We learned how hard these games are in the medal round against the best teams – like France, like Serbia – so it’s pretty amazing, three games here in Paris,” coach Steve Kerr said.
“The game is global, there is great talent all over the world. Wembanyama was amazing tonight, he is soon to become one of the great players in the world, but we still feel like we have the most great players in America.”
LeBron James gets posterised by France’s Guerschon Yabusele.Credit: nna\KCampbell
France, with their four NBA players, were always going to be the overwhelming underdogs against the United States, with their billion-dollar roster and 15 championship rings between them.
The Americans came into the game averaging 27 more points than France throughout the tournament. The question was always going to be if the French had enough attacking weapons to keep up with the Americans if their posse of sharpshooters caught fire.
But with a raucous home crowd behind them, and a rapidly improving Wembanyama, there was a sense of belief that the impossible was possible.
There was plenty of noise leading into the game about coach Kerr opting not to play Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum in the semi-final against Serbia.
“It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson; it’s what I’ve seen from the other guys,” Kerr said in the lead-up to the game, hinting at some defensive shortcomings that made him lean towards other players on his bench.
Kerr moved quickly to dispel any conspiracy theory by injecting the recently crowned NBA champion into the contest midway through the first quarter. The result was an 8-0 run for the host nation that led to James and Curry (21 points) being injected straight back into the match.
Joel Embiid went into the final as the most hated man in Paris. The French, unimpressed by Embiid pledging his allegiance to the United States despite being eligible to play for the host nation, have jeered the former NBA most valuable player every time he has touched the ball at the Olympics.
That only intensified in the final, following Embiid’s claims in the lead-up to the match that he would tell the locals to “suck it”.
“They’re gonna boo me. I’m gonna go back at them and tell them to suck it,” the Philadelphia 76ers big man said after America’s semi-final win over Serbia.
Joel Embiid was public enemy No.1 in Paris.Credit: Getty Images
Embiid, born in Cameroon before moving to the United States, applied for and was granted a French citizenship in May 2022 through a clause that allows naturalisation to a foreigner deemed “of exceptional interest”.
The “Allez les Bleus” tweet he sent out after France beat the United States at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics suggested his heart was set on playing for the host nation, but when he was granted a US citizenship in late 2022, Embiid’s allegiance began to sway. The reason he gave was a desire to honour his son, who was born in the US.
For all the hype surrounding Embiid, he struggled to live up to it in a scoreless first half in which he was limited to just five minutes of playing time in the first two quarters due to some early on-court jitters.
Every time America looked like pulling away, the French rallied and managed to get it to within three points with as many minutes remaining on the clock. Then Curry said goodnight.
“We’ve seen it before; if you’ve got a hot player, you gotta keep firing him,” America’s Devin Booker said.
“He’s the best shooter to ever live, and today was another test of that.”
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