There was talk that Stephen Curry was drastically out of form throughout the Olympics.
The Golden State Warriors star’s highest score for the Paris Games was 11 and that was against Serbia in their opening match. His combined points total for Team USA heading into the semi-final against Serbia on Friday was 29.
It was only a matter of time before Curry went off – at least that’s what all the talking heads were saying.
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Yet the four-time champion proved them right just when the team needed it.
Curry scored 36 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:16 left, paving the way for the US to advance to the gold medal match at the Paris Olympics after beating Serbia 95-91.
Curry shot 12-of-19 from the field and 9-of-14 from 3-point range and his 36 points fell one point shy of a USA Basketball Olympic record set by Carmelo Anthony.
“Steph? Man, that was a godlike performance,” Kevin Durant said. “That was tough. It felt like he was struggling throughout the whole tournament. We always said: Each night it’ll be somebody different. Tonight, he showed up in a way that, man, God was with him tonight. He was with us tonight, through Steph.”
The US trailed by 17 points in the first half, plus faced an 11-point halftime deficit — the biggest one successfully overcome by an American team since NBA players were added to the Olympic mix in 1992.
Curry scored 17 of his 20 points in the first quarter with 14 of the 17 coming in less than four minutes. But somehow the US found themselves behind.
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A barrage of Serbian 3-pointers had the Americans squarely on the ropes, until the game changed in the fourth.
Serbia led by 11 with 7:19 left. But the US scored six points in two seconds. And just like that, against what looked like overwhelming odds, the US Olympic men’s basketball team was on its way.
The whole game changed in the fourth after a wild sequence saw the U.S. score six points in two seconds. Kevin Durant made a three-pointer while Anthony Davis was getting fouled. The U.S. got another possession, and off the inbounds Devin Booker made another three-pointer.
Just like that, a 78-67 lead for Serbia was down to 78-73. The comeback was on, and Curry’s 3 put the US up for good. He added a pair of free throws with 8.2 seconds left to make it a two-possession game and the Americans escaped.
Joel Embiid scored 19 points and LeBron James added 16 for the US, which is now assured of its 20th medal in 20 Olympic appearances.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 20 points for Serbia, which got 17 from Nikola Jokic and 15 from Aleksa Avramovic.
“I still believe that we could have won this game, a couple of possessions, a call goes our way, a couple of shots,” Serbia’s Bogdanovic said. “But that is basketball. You should be proud even if you lose a game like this.”
Serbia coach Svetislav Petic kept saying the same thing all summer, that the team the US put together for the Paris Games was better than any in Olympic history. Even the Dream Team, he insisted.
The US improved to 144-6 all-time in Olympic play, 63-4 since NBA players were added to the Olympics in 1992.
The comeback kept Kevin Durant’s hopes of becoming the first four-time Olympic men’s gold medallist very much alive,
And of all the US semi final moments, this was like few others. The four-point final margin was the second closest in American history in the Olympic semi-finals; the US beat Lithuania by two in the 2000 semi-finals in Sydney, on the way to gold there.
It’ll be the US against host France for gold in a dream matchup for the host nation on Saturday night, while Serbia will face Germany for bronze.
