In one of the great basketball comebacks in Olympics history, USA were barely able to beat Serbia, 95-91. The current ‘big 3’ of NBA and basketball in general – LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant were the main protagonists in sealing this most important victory.
The USA were down and out up until the third quarter of the game, with Steph Curry and Joel Embiid carrying all the load for the team. Credits to Serbia, as they were impressive defensively, and offensively were shooting threes for fun, thanks to Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Starting the final quarter, team USA were down 13 points to Serbia. But something had changed. While 12,213 people at the Paris Bercy Arena booed Joel Embiid, he quickly launched three consecutive buckets, as James’s layup and Curry’s three helped USA reclaim the lead in a historic 32-15 fourth quarter.
Kevin Durant : “It was God talking through him tonight”
Warriors legend Steph Curry came to the Olympics with no form and looked like a shadow of his previous self, but he proved in this semi-final performance as to why he is rated as the greatest shooter of all time. Countless former and current NBA players sang the veteran’s praises on social media, as Curry scored 36 points with 8 rebounds and 2 assists to his name, just one point short of Carmelo Anthony’s record, who was also present at the game passionately shouting instructions. But the ‘Slim Reaper’ of the USA, Kevin Durant had some special words for his friend post-match.
“Steph, man, that was a God-like performance, dang, (Curry) was tough. He felt like he was struggling throughout the whole tournament, and we always said each night it could be somebody different (every game). And tonight, he showed up in a way that, man… shot after shot, getting a steal and then finishing with the layup. He was everywhere tonight. It was one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen him play,” said the 35-year-old (per The Athletic).
“Guys were looking for him. His energy was high. He was shooting the ball, turning around, shooting the ball, turning around. It was just a regular Steph game, and I think he was searching for that type of game the whole Olympics and to have it right here, especially when we needed it, it was special to see. It was God talking through him tonight,” the Phoenix Suns player added.
Kevin Durant was not the only teammate who praised Stephen Curry, as Lebron James, who himself scored a triple-double, admired the performance of ‘Chef Curry’ as the duo was seen wildly celebrating after the end of the game.
Looking at the context and the high stakes this match held, it would not be far-fetched to say that this was Curry’s best performance in recent years. Without him, USA would be competing for the bronze medal against Germany. The star-studded team are now favorites to win the Olympics once again, as the USA will face hosts France in the highly awaited gold medal match this Saturday.
