Team USA completed its drive for five, and beat host France to do it, behind another golden performance from Stephen Curry.
The United States gutted their way to a 98-87 victory in the men’s basketball final at the Paris Olympics at Bercy Arena, their fifth straight Olympic gold.
Future Hall of Famers Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James came up with huge plays down the stretch, after Team USA had seen a double-digit lead reduced to just three on a bucket by young phenom Victor Wembanyama with 2:58 left.
That’s when the greatest shooter in history had arguably his greatest moment.
Curry started raining 3-pointers, with four consecutive buckets for the United States being Curry daggers from deep.
“It’s right up there with all of the greatest games of his career,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said of his Warriors star. “You know, the shotmaking was just incredible. But under the circumstances — you know, on the road in Paris against France for a gold medal — this is storybook stuff. But that’s what Steph does.
“He likes to be in storybooks.”
Curry responded to Wembanyama’s bucket just 10 seconds later to double Team USA’s lead to six.
Then Curry hit another with 1:53 to play, and a high arcing miracle shot over a Wembanyama double-team with 35 seconds to play, signaling good night to the French star and the Parisian crowd.
Curry poured in 24 points and five assists.
He had eight 3-pointers after having nine to power their come-from-behind rally against Serbia in the semifinals.
“It is special,” Curry said on an on-court TV interview. “Two years ago when we won our last championship, I knew that this was going to be on the horizon, and something that I was excited to go after. Anything you sign up for, any mission that you take on, you give everything you have.
“So these last — well, for me we missed the playoffs. I’ve been preparing for a long time — but these last five weeks together with this group has been nothing but one, two, three, gold. That’s all we’ve been saying. So for us to finally accomplish that, for me to get your gold medals, is insane, and I thank God for the opportunity to experience it.”
Team USA has won 17 gold medals in men’s basketball, and eight of the last nine.
They’re 36-1 in the Olympics since 2004, with the “1” a group-stage loss to France in the Tokyo Olympics. But they bounced back to beat France in the finals three years ago, and did it again Saturday.
Durant had 15 points, while had James 14 points, 10 assists and six boards.
With a fourth gold medal, Durant surpassed Carmelo Anthony for the most by any male basketball player. James, meanwhile, averaged 14.2 points, 8.5 assists and 6.8 rebounds in Paris.
Wembanyama finished with a game-high 26.
Team USA had to overcome a 17-point deficit to beat Serbia and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic on Thursday behind a game-high 36 points from Curry.
But this time no comeback was needed.
After mustering just 29 points on 5 of 20 shooting from deep through Team USA’s first four games, Curry erupted for 60 on 17 of 26 the last two.
Team USA trailed by a point in the second quarter before surging ahead with a 20-9 run.They never trailed again.
And when they got shaky late, Curry steadied them with a golden hand.
