Playing for a team as stacked as the Team USA's squad for the 2024 Olympics requires major adjustments from players who have been accustomed to being the man for their respective teams. Sacrifice is imperative, and other players' games simply aren't tailor made for the more egalitarian system used by the number-one team in the FIBA rankings. But for Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, that's where the “fun” lies.
Curry, who is not having his best string of performances for Team USA in their first three games of the 2024 Paris Olympics, showed just how selfless he is as he could not care less about how his team gets the job done. As long as they do so, all is right in the world for the Warriors star.
“I think that's a challenge because you don't know from quarter to quarter from game to game who it's going to be, [but] it's a fun way to play. If you're bought into ‘Let's just win the basketball game' and after that, who cares what it looks like,” Curry said.
Team USA has had three different leading scorers in their group stage victories over Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico. Kevin Durant announced his return from injury with a near-flawless performance vs. Serbia, Bam Adebayo took over with a dominant two-way performance against South Sudan, while Anthony Edwards was unstoppable against Puerto Rico.
Through it all, Stephen Curry has not quite been himself. During the group stage, he averaged a mere 7.3 points on an uncharacteristic 32 percent shooting from the field and 26 percent from beyond the arc. But the Warriors star is more than confident that every player on the Team USA roster has that next man up mentality.
“That's how we can overwhelm teams. It's just everybody has to be ready for your moment whenever it is,” Curry added.
Team USA needs three more wins to nab gold
Team USA has employed such an equal-opportunity offense that it's hard to determine who the alpha dog of the team is. Nonetheless, whatever they're doing has worked. Led by Anthony Edwards' 16.7 points per game, Team USA won their three group stage games by an average margin of 21.3 points — flexing their muscle as the best basketball country in the world.
With only eight teams left in the competition, Stephen Curry and company need to win just three more games, beginning with their quarterfinal matchup against Brazil on Tuesday afternoon. They will then have to face the winner of Serbia versus Australia should they advance to the final four.
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