PARIS — The American basketball muscle remains strong.
The world has made big strides over the past three decades and there are brilliant talents and developing teams that show great promise. But when Team USA sends its best no one yet has shown they can stop the Yanks.
It is now five straight Olympic golds for the USA after a hard-fought 98-87 victory over the resilient and prideful host nation of France on Saturday.
The indelible moment came from Stephen Curry, who made four uber clutch 3-pointers in a two-minute second stretch of the fourth quarter to turn away a French uprising. Curry assured his first gold with a ridiculous fall away bomb over two defenders after a behind-the-back dribble, silencing the home fans with his “put them to sleep” trademark move.
“Before every shot you take, you think it’s going in,” Curry said. “All I saw was the rim. I didn’t see who was in front of me. I knew it was kind of a late clock situation, but that one impressed myself.”
After making nine 3-pointers in the semifinals and putting in 36 points, Curry made 8-of-12 triples in the final for 24 golden points.
“I’ve seen that from Steph a few times but it never gets old,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s a global game with a lot of great players, but we still feel we have the greatest players.”
It was quite a turn of events after Curry had been just 5-of-20 on 3-pointers and was averaging just seven points heading into the semifinals three days ago.
“You just stay confident, stay present and don’t get rattled by the moment,” Curry said. “There’s a lot of faith, living with shots that you think you should take.”
While Curry was the hero, LeBron James named Olympics MVP after scoring 14 points with six rebounds and 10 assists. It added to his 4 NBA MVPs, 4 Finals MVPs, 3 NBA All-Star Game MVPs and the only In-Season Tournament championship in history.
James averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists on 66% shooting in the Olympics.
“I’m just living in the moment super humble that I can still play this game and play it at a high level,” James said. “It came with us winning gold and that’s what’s more important for me. It’s pretty cool.”
James earned his third career gold and fourth Olympic medal overall, joining Durant as the only American male with four.
Kevin Durant, who became the first…
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