USA vs France recap: Thanks to Stephen Curry’s flurry late, USA golden again

It was all about this moment — wearing gold around their necks, standing on the top of the medal stand, listening to the national anthem.

Team USA earned this moment, and they savored it.

Heading into the medal round, LeBron James looked every bit the USA MVP, but Stephen Curry was in more of a support role, defending and drawing defenders, but not scoring that much.

That changed in the medal round, where Curry scored 60 points and hit 17 3-pointers across two games. That propelled him into the All-Star Five of the Paris Olympics, along with LeBron.

Besides the Americans, the All-Star Five included:
• Nikola Jokic (Serbia, bronze medal)
• Victor Wembanyama (France, silver medal)
• Dennis Schroder (Germany)

No notes, no corrections on that five.

It wasn’t just the numbers — LeBron James finished the Paris Olympics averaging 14.2 points, 8.5 assists, and 6.5 rebounds a game — it’s that he was the tone-setter for the gold medal-winning Team USA.

That earns you the title of Paris Olympics MVP.

There were a lot of players who deserve credit for the USA’s gold medal win against France: LeBron James was the tone setter, Kevin Durant got buckets and defended Wembanyama for long stretches, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo were physical inside and made plays, Devin Booker was getting buckets.

What we’ll remember most is Stephen Curry slamming the door shut on France with four 3-pointers in the two critical minutes late in the game. That was the dagger.

France learned the hard way what so many NBA teams could have told them — don’t let Stephen Wardell Curry get hot. Once he’s feeling it, there is nothing you can do. Your double-team does not matter.

If Stephen Curry had stayed home this summer and defended his American Century Championship title he still would enter the Hall of Fame as the greatest shooter who ever lived. Instead, he went to Paris this summer and, in the medal round, secured that legacy in gold.

Curry scored 60 points and hit 17 3-pointers over the final two games of the Paris Olympics, and the USA won the gold medal because of it.

His was just one of the legacies secured in Paris by Team USA.

Kevin Durant, who had 15 points and 4 assists on Saturday, now has four gold medals — the most of any men’s Olympic basketball player ever. Durant is a pure hooper, a guy who simply loves the game and to be challenged at the highest level, and USA Basketball brings that (especially in practice), so he kept coming back.

Durant should be remembered as the greatest FIBA player ever.

Then there is LeBron James — at age 39 he was the tone setter and MVP of Team USA throughout the Paris Olympics.

LeBron finished the Olympics leading the USA with 14.2 points, 8.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds a game — he was the Olympics MVP.

Jrue Holiday joined Scottie Pippen as the only players to win an NBA title then an Olympic gold medal in the same year — twice. Holiday won gold in Tokyo after winning an NBA title with Milwaukee, and now the Celtics’ guard has done it again.

When the Olympics move to Los Angeles in four years, Team USA undoubtedly will be stacked with talent again, but it will be very different. It will be a younger generation looking to make their mark in history — and very likely having to get past Victor Wembanyama and France again to do it (they are not going anywhere).

For us fans, we will always have Paris.

It’s where the greatest players of a generation painting their legacies in gold. And it was spectacular.

Victor Wembanyama and France made them earn it — but under pressure the stars stepped up.

The USA wins gold, check out the celebration.

Stephan Wardell Curry wanted gold on his resume — and he won it for them.

Curry hit four 3-pointers — each one more ridiculous than the last — and it kept a gritty French team at bay, and the USA won because of it 98-87.

The USA has won five straight gold medals in Olympic competition.

Stephen Curry hit back-to-back 3s late and has the USA up 93-84 with a minute to gold.

USA a minute from gold.

France got it within 3, and the USA went to its best play: Curry set the screen for LeBron, popped out and it was a Curry 3.

Durant had a block on the other end, was fouled going for a rebound and hit some free throws.

USA leads 87-79 with 2:22 left in the gold medal game.

A couple of turnovers and a couple of missed shots have given France life.

The USA leads 82-77 with 3:32 left in the gold medal game. Can the Americans hang on? Expect a lot of Durant and LeBron.

France is still within striking distance, but the USA has kept them at arm’s length.

The USA leads 80-69 with 6:30 left in the game. The USA is that far away from a fifth straight gold medal.

The kind of sentence you only get to write with USA Basketball:

Kevin Durant with the alley-oop to Anthony Edwards.

The USA leads by six and is 10 minutes away from gold — but France is not going away.

The USA leads 72-66 after 3 quarters.

An Evan Fournier 3, then a terrible turnover by Anthony Edwards leading to a goaltend by Durant in transition, and France is back in it. This is going to go down to the wire.

Stephen Curry is finding a groove — and that’s bad news for France.

How do you know Curry is finding a groove? When he shimmy’s after a made 3.

The USA has been able to hold the French at arms length (and keep the home crowd relatively out of the game), but that’s going to change at some point. France has one big run in them.

After a Wembanyama 3 the USA lead is down to 9 at 65-56, with 3:45 left in the third.

Anthony Edwards drained a step-back 3-pointer over his teammate Rudy Gobert in the first half — and then let Gobert hear about it. Edwards does love to trash talk.

Stephen Curry did a little shimmy after his last 3 — that’s bad news for France. Chef Curry is starting to cook and has a dozen points.

The USA leads 61-47 with 6:50 left in the third quarter.

Both teams have slowed the pace — or, focused on defense, if you will — to start the second half.

That has not changed the score. USA leads 58-45 with 7:24 left in the third quarter.

Guerschon Yabusele is having a game.

The former Celtic leads France at the half with 15 points and he put LeBron James in a poster.

The USA has played well and has the lead, but France is not going away.

After one half of play in the gold medal game, the USA leads 49-41.

Devin Booker leads the USA in scoring with 13 points including a couple of 3-pointers. LeBron has seven points and five rebounds, while Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each have six.

Victor Wembanyama (13 points, 5 rebounds) and Guerschon Yabusele (15 points) are carrying France, which has shot 3-of-16 from 3-point range.

That has been the real first-half difference. The USA’s defensive closeouts are bothering France from 3, while the USA is 9-of-20 from deep.

Bam Adebayo has been getting a lot of run in the first half because of his strength — he can body up Wembanyama and Yabusele.

And he can do this.

USA up 46-36 with 1:20 left in the first half.

LeBron James has been a force, has eight points and two assists and with an and-1 spin move has put the USA up 37-31.

There’s three minutes left in the first half.

LeBron James is a showman and that’s not going to change in a gold medal game. Check out this behind-the-back pass to Devin Booker.

France started the second quarter on 10-4 run — an 8-0 run as part of it — has put France in front.

The USA now trails 25-24 with 7:10 left in the second quarter.

It was an entertaining, up and down first quarter and that works for the USA, who lead 2015 after one.

Devin Booker leads the US with 7 points on 3-of-3 shooting. Anthony Edwards has 6 points, including a step-back 3 over his Minnesota teammate Rudy Gobert. Not a great shooting quarter for the USA at 8-of-20, but it’s been enough.

Victor Wembanyama leads France with 7 points and 3 rebounds.

It’s been an intense, close, back-and-forth game bu the USA is going to its bench, which has been the difference in most games.

USA up 17-13 with two minutes left in the first quarter.

France has gone big, with Gobert and Wembanyama on the court together.

This is what peak USA Basketball looks like — a LeBron James block and a Kevin Durant triple.

USA up 12-11 with 3:30 left in first.

The tempo is up and the game has been entertaining — LeBron James with a monster dunk and block. Victor Wembanyama with a three and some plays in the paint.

10-7 USA early but this one is tight. Good start by both sides.

The gold medal game of the Paris Olympics is underway, we have tipped off.

France has started slow in the previous two medal round basketball games, then been buoyed by a wild and loud crowd, but if they start off slow against an American team looking to establish control early, they may never get out of the hole.

As we near tip-off for the gold medal game of the Paris Olympics, here’s a list of every previous winner of the gold in men’s 5x5 Olympics basketball.

2020 (Tokyo): USA
2016 (Rio): USA
2012 (London): USA
2008 (Beijing): USA
2004 (Athens): Argentina
2000 (Sydney): USA
1996 (Atlanta): USA
1992 (Barcelona): USA
1988 (Seoul): Soviet Union
1984 (Los Angeles): USA
1980 (Moscow): Yugoslavia
1976 (Montreal): USA
1972 (Munich): Soviet Union
1968 (Mexico): USA
1964 (Tokyo): USA
1960 (Rome): USA
1956 (Melbourne): USA
1952 (Helsinki): USA
1948 (London): USA
1936 (Berlin): USA

With gold on the line, coach Steve Kerr is leaning into the lineup that sparked the fourth-quarter comeback against Serbia.

That one has Kevin Durant in the lineup and moves Jrue Holiday to the bench after he started the previous five in the Paris Olympics

The USA’s starting five:
Stephen Curry
Devin Booker
Kevin Durant
LeBron James
Joel Embiid

That should lead to a second unit of Holiday, Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo. Expect the USA bigs of Davis and Bam to get a lot of run because France rolls out real size, starting with Victor Wembanyama in the starting five.

Team USA is in the building and warming up.

When it’s the biggest stage, the USA’s best show out.

We saw that when LeBron James and Kevin Durant (along with Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid) rose to the occasion in the fourth quarter against Serbia in the semi-finals.

We have seen it in previous gold medal games as well. Check out the stats from the last four gold medal games.

Beijing 2008 (vs. Spain)
LeBron: 14 points, 6 rebounds

London 2012 (vs. Spain)
Durant: 30 points, 9 rebounds
LeBron: 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists

Rio 2016 (vs. Serbia)
Durant 30 points, 4 assists

Tokyo 2020 (vs. France)
Durant: 29 points, 6 rebounds

Joel Embiid had a choice for these Olympics. He could play for one of three countries: Cameroon, France or the USA.

The French were under the impression that he would choose them, forming a fearsome frontline with Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert.

He chose the USA.

The French saw that both as a betrayal and him taking the easy way to a gold medal rather than earning it. That has had French fans booing him every time he touches the ball throughout the tournament — and that will be far more intense in the gold medal game.

Embiid plays in Philadelphia, boos are not going to faze him.

“A lot of people see [being booed] as hate, I see it as love and respect,” Embiid told reporters in Paris. “If I wasn’t an okay basketball player, I would not receive that type of treatment. So I see myself as being blessed and that’s how I interact with that type of crowd and that type of stuff. I’m blessed to be here. I’ve seen worse. I’ve played in worse environments.”

Saturday’s environment in Paris will be nasty, but that is going to motivate Embiid more than anything.

USA Basketball’s social media team has killed it during the Paris Olympics. This hype video for the gold medal game against Paris is no exception.

Serbia is going home with hardware.

Playing for the bronze after a heartbreaking loss to the USA in the semi-finals, Serbia bounced back and beat Germany 93-83, avenging a loss from the FIBA World Cup a year before.

What is the difference in this game? Serbia had Nikola Jokic (he skipped the World Cup).

Jokic had a triple-double of 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists (only the fourth men’s player ever with an Olympic triple-double). Vasilije Micic finished with 19 points and the Hawks’ Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 16 — then hugged it out with Carmelo Anthony after the game, they are all good.

Orlando’s Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points (but on 5-of-14 shooting) and his brother Moritz Wagner added 16. Dennis Schroder scored 13 with six assists.

This is earned by Jokic, who was the likely Olympics MVP if Serbia had pulled off the upset against the USA — he has looked every bit the best player in the world in Paris. His team deserved a medal — they are very good, very balanced — and they got it.

LeBron James, at age 39, leads Team USA in points, rebounds and assists per game during the Paris Olympics.

Let that sink in. On a team as stacked with as much talent as any in history, on a team 5-0 in the Olympics and one win away from a fifth straight gold medal, LeBron James is the USA and Olympics MVP. He has been GOAT-like, and if it wasn’t for his play in the fourth quarter against Serbia — along with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Joel Embiid — the USA would not still have golden dreams.

Here are the stats for Team USA at the Paris Olympics (if these individual numbers seem lower than you expect, remember it’s 40-minute games and on a roster this stacked nobody has to play more than 20-25 minutes a game).

Points per game
1. LeBron James 14.2
2. Anthony Edwards 13.8
3. Kevin Durant 13.6

Rebounds per game
1. LeBron James 7
2. Anthony Davis 6.2
3. Jayson Tatum 6

Assists per game
1. LeBron James 8.2
2. Jrue Holiday 3.5
2. Devin Booker 3.4

Field goal percentage
1. LeBron James 67.4%
2. Anthony Edwards 60.5%
3. Tyrese Haliburton 60%