Rudy Tomjanovich once said, “Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion.” With four NBA titles under his belt, Stephen Curry proved Rudy T right as he turned in a historic scoring performance to lead Team USA's comeback victory over Serbia, 95-91, keeping Team USA's gold medal hopes alive. Nikola Jokic and Team Serbia had the lead for much of the game, but Curry's 36-point barrage proved too much for them to handle. Moreover, another four-time NBA champ, LeBron James, put up a triple double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. Still, Curry's performance came second only to one of Team USA's all-time greatest scorers, Carmelo Anthony, whose 37 points against Nigeria in the 2012 Olympics is the all-time scoring record for Team USA basketball.
In the victory over Nigeria, Anthony got buckets from everywhere on the court. He scored 37 points in only 14 minutes, setting the record by shooting 13-16 from the field and an unbelievable 10-12 from beyond the arc, according to StatMuse on X, formerly Twitter. Carmelo Anthony was also in attendance at the Serbia game, and he shared an incredible moment with Chef Curry after the victory.
Stephen Curry's all-time performance
Before this game, Stephen Curry was in a bit of a slump, making only five out of his 20 three-point attempts. But a shooter's slump doesn't really last forever, especially for a player dubbed the greatest shooter of all time. Team USA needed every one of his nine made threes to have a chance to win the game, as Serbia was firing on all cylinders, led by Denver Nuggets star and NBA champion Nikola Jokic.
Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP, led his team as they led by as much as 17 points, taking an 11-point lead into halftime. They also enjoyed an 11-point lead with 7:19 remaining in the game, and the Americans–led by Curry and James–took over after that. With the comeback, the US men's basketball team has also set a record for the biggest lead overcome by Team USA in the Olympics since the 1992 Dream Team.
About the game, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr sounded relieved.
“I'm really humbled to have been a part of this game,” he said. “It's one of the greatest basketball games I've ever been a part of. They were perfect. They played a perfect game.” Then, he added, “But they played a perfect game, and they forced us to reach the highest level of competition that we could find. And our guys were incredible in the fourth quarter, and they got it done.”
Besides Curry and James, 76ers star Joel Embiid also put up 19 points on 8-11 shooting. On the Serbian side, Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 20 points to lead the team, while Jokic had 17. Team USA will now face Victor Wembanyama and Team France for the gold medal in the Olympic final on Saturday.
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