PARIS — Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, cloaked in American flags, shared hugs with LeBron James as the final buzzer sounded and their tumultuous road to Olympic gold was finally complete.
By Ben Golliver
While the Americans never trailed after taking a 29-27 lead midway through the second quarter, the final was a spirited affair that saw the French get within three points in the final three minutes. But Curry hit four late three-pointers to seal the victory, celebrating by shaking his USA jersey toward the crowd and putting his hands together next to his head in his signature “night, night” motion. Curry finished with a team-high 24 points on eight three-pointers.
“It’s everything I imagined and more,” Curry said. “For a first experience, this is all you could ask for. You just stay confident, stay present and don’t get rattled by the moment. The last two minutes were special.”
James, who was named tournament MVP, had 14 points, six rebounds and 10 assists. Curry and Durant said the Los Angeles Lakers forward first reached out to them via text message nearly a year ago to begin conversations about teaming up in Paris.
“We got our moment,” said James, a three-time gold medalist. “This is what we wanted. We didn’t like the way we played last summer [finishing fourth at the FIBA World Cup], so we put together this team very fast.”
