At the Paris Olympics, it’s only fitting that it was a chef who sealed gold for the U.S. men’s basketball team. Steph Curry poured in 24 points, including three preposterous 3s down the stretch, as Team USA fought off France in a nerve-racking fourth quarter to take home a fifth straight gold medal.
LeBron James flirted with another triple-double in his final Olympic game while Kevin Durant and Devin Booker added 15 apiece for the U.S., which never trailed after taking an 11-10 lead midway through the first quarter but could never quite seem to be France away.
It was Curry who delivered the daggers in crunch time, over and over again. It seemed like Team USA’s grip on the game might be loosening late, as Les Bleus cut a 10-point lead down to three on a Victor Wembanyama putback with three minutes to go. And then Steph erupted, as he has so many times before: The two-time NBA MVP hit a 3 to bump the lead back up to six, then hit two more in quick succession to turn the lights out — and touch off an American party in Paris.
Curry finished 8-of-12 from deep for the game, making him 17-of-31 since the start of the semifinal. Wembanyama showed out in his first gold medal game, scoring a game-high 26 on 11-of-19 from the field, but he simply didn’t get enough help on the offensive end.
The win makes it five golds in a row for the U.S. and its 17th overall. It’s Curry’s first in what could well be his only Olympic appearance, while James earns his third gold and Durant his fourth.
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