At the Paris Olympics, it's only fitting that it was a chef who sealed gold for the U.S. men's basketball team. Steph Curry poured in 24 points, including three preposterous 3s down the stretch, as Team USA fought off France in a nerve-racking fourth quarter to take home a fifth straight gold medal with a 98-87 win.
LeBron James flirted with another triple-double in his final Olympic game while Kevin Durant and Devin Booker added 15 apiece for the U.S., which never trailed after taking a 29-27 lead midway through the second quarter but could never quite seem to put France away.
That is, until Curry delivered the daggers in crunch time, over and over again. It seemed like Team USA's grip on the game might be loosening late, as Les Bleus cut a 10-point lead down to three on a Victor Wembanyama putback with three minutes to go. And then Steph erupted, as he has so many times before: The two-time NBA MVP hit a 3 to bump the lead back up to six, then hit two more in quick succession to turn the lights out — and touch off an American party in Paris.
"At that point, your mind goes blank," Curry said. "You don't really care about setting or the scenario or anything. It's just a shot.”
Curry finished 8-of-12 from deep for the game, making him 17-of-31 since the start of the semifinal. Wembanyama showed out in his first gold medal game, scoring a game-high 26 on 11-of-19 from the field, but he simply didn't get enough help on the offensive end.
The win makes it five golds in a row for the U.S. and its 17th overall. It's Curry's first in what could well be his only Olympic appearance, while James earns his third gold and Durant his fourth.
Read on for a full recap and takeaways from a wild night at Bercy Arena.
Wemby, Yabusele come out swinging
If we were wondering how Wembanyama would handle being a 20-year-old in his first Olympic final with the weight of a host nation on his shoulders, we got our answer right out of the gate, when the 7-foot-4 phenom drilled a deep 3 on France's second possession of the game. The moment never seemed too big for Wemby, who finally rediscovered his outside shot (3-of-8 from beyond the arc) and asserted himself inside on both ends, relishing postups in isolation, crashing the boards and walling off the rim at the other end.
The moment also wasn't too big for Guerschon Yabusele, one of the breakout stars of this tournament. Yabusele showed out for the third straight game, scoring 20 points while flying all over the court and eventually earning "MVP!" chants from the home crowd whenever he stepped to the free-throw line. Wemby and Yabusele combined to score 29 of France's 41 first-half points, keeping France competitive despite very little from the backcourt of Frank Ntilikina, Isaia Cordinier and Evan Fournier.
"I want to give credit to France, they were amazing," U.S. head coach Steve Kerr said. "It felt like we were going to break that game open many times, and they just kept hanging in there."
The U.S. stretches its lead
As the game wore on, though, it felt like the Americans had just too much firepower for France to keep pace. The U.S. closed the half strong to take an eight-point lead into the break, and the margin had ballooned to 14 just three minutes into the third. Team USA shot an even 50% from 3 on the night, while France finished just 9-of-30, including a 2-of-8 effort from Fournier. With Cordinier, so good in the quarterfinal and semifinal, failing to score a single point, France's offense inevitably bogged down, scrapping and clawing for any scoring it could get. The U.S., meanwhile, was playing textbook FIBA ball, relishing the physicality and keeping the ball moving. There was sometimes a bit too much FIBA happening, a willingness to pass turning into passivity that resulted in some sloppy turnovers, but overall the game seemed to be in command.
A fourth quarter for the ages
Until, all of a sudden, it very much wasn't. The U.S. turned the ball over six times over the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, providing France a lifeline amid its half-court struggles. And suddenly the contributions started coming from everywhere: Mathias Lessort creating second chance points, Bilal Coulibaly hitting a floater, Nando de Colo sneaking into passing lanes knocking down shots, even Fournier finally getting a 3 to go. As the Paris crowd roared with belief, Team USA seemed to get tighter and tighter, no one wanting to be selfish but everyone unsure of what the hierarchy was supposed to be. Curry's first 3, when France had cut it to a one-possession game, was enormous: Not only on the scoreboard but in the way that it established Steph as the guy who would see the Americans through to the finish line.
“I was just trying to settle us down," Curry said. "All we wanted to do was get a good shot. It had been a while since we had good possession."
On each successive possession through to the end of the game, the U.S. went right to Curry when it got the ball, a needed clarity in a hothouse moment.
America's unsung heroes: Devin Booker and Anthony Davis
It will get lost amid all the rightful plaudits being laid at the feet of Curry and James, but it deserves mention that the U.S. might not win this game without the efforts of Booker and AD. Booker was Mr. Reliable all tournament long, and he delivered more of the same in the gold medal game, scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting (2-of-5 from deep) and adding six rebounds and three assists, always willing to keep the offensive machinery whirring and always making the right decision quickly. Davis, meanwhile, was a monster down low, pulling down a game-high nine rebounds including a whopping six on the offensive end. For a player who doesn't often get noted for his physicality, AD was snarling all night, blocking four shots and influencing a ton more, constantly finding ways to get his hand on the ball. With Joel Embiid only playing 11 minutes and Bam Adebayo largely anonymous, Davis was Team USA's primary big, and he delivered in a huge way.
Fitting farewell for LeBron
As if James needed any more boosts to his resume, he can now add "Olympic MVP" in addition to "three-time gold medalist". James took a back seat to Curry down the stretch of each of Team USA's final two games, but don't let that fool you: LeBron remained the heart and soul of this U.S. team until the very end, and he was excellent against France. He once again led the team in assists, the guy who would always make the extra pass and find the open shooter. He also busted out the old-fashioned bully ball game at times, including a back-down of Wemby, whenever the U.S. felt like it couldn't generate a quality look. He was, in short, a complete player, organizing the chess board and diagnosing whatever his team needed in a given moment and providing it.
James more or less ruled out playing in Los Angeles in 2028, saying, "I also didn't see myself playing in Paris, but four years from now, nah man." And if that's the case, he'll go down as one of the most decorated Olympians in any sport in American history, a star who bridged eras from the 2004 disaster to the Redeem Team and now a fifth straight gold. It was a gift to see him play on this stage one more time, and we'll miss him now that he's gone.
"It means everything," James said. "It means everything to represent my country and play at the highest level all across the world and do what I love to do."
France isn't going anywhere
One man who very likely will be in L.A. four years from now is Wembanyama, a thought that should strike fear into just about everyone — the U.S. included. Team USA seemed acutely aware of how far the world has come in these Games, and the gap will only narrow over the next cycle. Wemby showed that the stage isn't too big for him, and with running mates like Yabusele, this team is likely to make another podium very soon.
"We can’t take this for granted," Wembanyama said. "In a tournament like this, things can switch in a moment. The games were really high intensity, and we could have lost by 20 points, but we kept fighting. I will be going for gold in four years’ time."