Team USA was 10 minutes away from utter failure. Trailing by 13 entering the fourth quarter, the team many have regarded as the most talented since the 1992 Dream Team faced the prospect of possibly the biggest disappointment in program history.
So the Americans turned to Steph Curry.
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Curry, who kept the U.S. offense afloat as it got stagnant against Serbia’s zone, gave the Americans their first lead since the first quarter with a 3-pointer off the catch. He added a steal and layup with 1:41 left and sank the game-sealing free throws with 8.2 seconds remaining to survive.
“That was a godlike performance,” Kevin Durant said of Curry, via the Associated Press.
Curry finished with a game-high 36 points on 12-for-19 shooting, carrying Team USA to the gold medal round. Nikola Jokic (17 points, 11 assists) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (20 points) gave the U.S. by far its biggest scare, leading by as much as 17 and controlling most of the game, but in the end, the Americans’ superior talent won out in a thrilling 95-91 comeback victory.
“Serbia was brilliant today and I’m really humbled to have been a part of this game,” head coach Steve Kerr told reporters postgame. “It’s one of the greatest basketball games I’ve ever been a part of. They were perfect. They played a perfect game.”
Despite being stagnant against Serbia’s zone, constantly losing track of their 3-point shooters and committing 10 turnovers, Team USA is set to face the hosting nation France in the championship.
Curry’s first Olympics haven’t gone as well as anyone imagined, at least on the court. He logged point totals of 11, three, eight and seven before the semifinals. Even with the familiarity of Kerr as his coach, Curry’s teammates weren’t used to his frenetic off-ball relocation and movement.
Against Serbia, it clicked. Curry scored 11 of Team USA’s first 12 points, hitting jumper after jumper.
On a wide-open 3 in the corner in transition, Curry turned to look at his bench before the ball inevitably dropped in.
It took Curry less than four minutes to set a new personal high at the Olympics.
Kerr kept Curry on the court when the second unit checked in, adjusting from his traditional platoon subbing pattern. Right away, Curry rewarded his coach’s decision by shaking a defender out of his shoes and dropping off a pass to Anthony Davis for free throws.
STEPHEN. CURRY. TEAM USA LEADS.#ParisOlympics | NBC, USA Network and Peacock pic.twitter.com/C4MUUl1v78
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Then Curry drilled another 3 off a pump fake, giving him 17 first-quarter points. As he jogged back on defense, Curry shook his head. Even as Curry broke out, Serbia couldn’t miss.
Serbia earned a 31-23 lead with a balanced offensive effort. Jokic notched six points and five assists in the opening quarter — Serbia’s highest-scoring quarter of the tournament.
A 3 even banked in for the Serbians continued to pour it on in the second quarter, expanding their lead to 14. Team USA, which had rolled to victories of 35, 26, 17 and 21, faced by far its biggest test.
Jokic blocked LeBron James at the rim and scored an and-1 layup on the other end, pushing Serbia’s advantage to 42-25. The U.S. defeated Serbia twice before the semis — once in group stage and the other in an exhibition — but the best player in the world can do a lot to bridge the talent gap.
Jokic’s personal rival, Joel Embiid, hit a 3 to get America back within 10. But the U.S. botched a 3-on-2 fast break — with Curry missing a clean look from 3 instead of the US getting a layup — and Bogdan Bogdanovic nailed a 3 on the other end.
The biggest deficit the U.S. faced before the semis was eight; the Americans trailed by double digits for nearly the entire semifinal. The U.S. went into halftime down 54-43 despite Curry’s 20.
Even with the stunning first half, Kerr sent out his starters for the second half. They increased their ball pressure defensively and slowed down the pace. Curry canned his seventh and eighth 3s, but Serbia’s hot shooting continued, too.
With 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Marko Guduric converted a four-point play, erasing all the work the U.S. did to shave the Serbian lead. The U.S. entered the most intense 10 minutes of Olympic basketball this group has faced trailing by 13.
“They played the perfect game,” Kerr told reporters. “And they forced us to reach the highest level of competition that we could find. And our guys were incredible in that fourth quarter, and they got it done.”
Curry, Kevin Durant and James — who notched a triple-double — shared the court and made a push. An officiating quirk made back-to-back 3s from Durant and Devin Booker possible, and Serbia’s offense tightened up.
The U.S. ran much of its crunch-time offense through Embiid in the post, and he came through. He scored seven straight points before James finished inside to tie the game at 84 with 3:39 left. A minute later, Curry’s ninth 3 gave the U.S. the lead.
Then came Curry’s steal-and-score. And after a vintage Durant isolation jumper, Curry made both foul shots to clinch the win — and avoid a colossal shock.
America’s biggest three buckets were poetic: Curry’s 3, James trucking to the rim in transition, and Durant sinking a midrange pull-up. When the moment was brightest, the three players who have defined the past 15 years rose up.
“I’ve seen a lot of Team USA basketball,” Curry said. “And that was a special one.”
