In what may be his first and last Olympics, Stephen Curry has only grown his legend as the greatest shooter of all time. The Americans needed all of his threes, too, first in Team USA's semifinal comeback against Serbia and in the clutch of the gold medal game to seal their victory. What's even more incredible is that he had made only five threes prior to the Serbia game, where the Warriors legend scored 36 with nine made threes. With 36 points, he was one bucket shy of beating Carmelo Anthony's all-time Olympic record of points scored in a game. Current NBA players couldn't help but wonder at Curry's performance, even if they must have hated seeing his heroics against their team. Just ask Devin Booker, for example.
“He's the best shooter to ever live,” Booker said.
Stephen Curry's push for Team USA gold
Stacking a roster full of All-Stars who are all first or second options on their NBA teams could be a recipe for disaster, but high-stakes games tend to form the team's hierarchy for them. For example, when the game gets tough, and in the clutch, who gets the ball? For the two games in the medal rounds, the answer was Stephen Curry. After scoring 36 to beat Serbia, Curry chipped in with eight made threes for 24 total points. Four of these threes were consecutive shots to seal the gold for the Americans. The last three even looked like a heat check, a one-footed heave over a double-team of Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier, a shot that would make any coach slam his clipboard in anger if it were any other player.
“I was kind of like, ‘What the f**k,'” Bam Adebayo said of the gold-clinching shot. “Then I remembered who was shooting it.”
If you want to know how to overcome a shooting slump, just ask Curry. He had only averaged seven points in the group stage and made only five of 20 three-point attempts.
“You just stay confident, stay present and don't get rattled by the moment,” the Warriors star said. “There's a lot of faith, living with shots that you think you should take.”
Meanwhile, Devin Booker also scored 15 points to win his second gold medal, impressively changing his role to fit in better with the team.
Olympics MVP
While the Warriors icon's legendary shooting won the Americans the gold, his teammate and storied rival LeBron James won the Olympics MVP. James had notched a triple-double against Serbia and he was four rebounds shy of doing it again versus France. In the gold medal game, James had 14 points, six rebounds, and ten assists. Throughout the games, he averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 8.5 assists on 66% shooting.
After nearly a decade of intense rivalry, it's only right for James and Curry to lead Team USA to a gold medal in what may have been the last Olympics of their careers.
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