US men Serbia: 95-91
US men France 98-87
US women France 67-66
“It was God talking through him tonight” - KD, post US/Serbia semi-finals game
I know the Olympics was a bit ago. We’ve moved on. Or rather, you’ve moved on. Me, I’m still floating on the stories of the men’s basketball team. I’ve watched multiple games multiple times. I feel certain that I’m not done rewatching.
I thought for once I was going to get to write about other players. Until the final two games, it seemed apparent that I would be writing about the power of the A’ja Wilson/Breanna Stewart backcourt, or the veteran/newbie duo of Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards, or just KD and his stunning return to the court. Or maybe even Devin Booker. But then in those medal games, the ones that counted, Steph Curry emerged from out of nowheresville and became all we could talk about, all we will remember from Olympic basketball.
For a few days, we all got to be Steph Curry fans. Cause this is what it’s like, an entire season of Warriors watching at its best, wrapped up into six games. The early games, the pool games, where yes, the team was winning but Steph was absent. He looked out of step. He wasn’t lost but no one was finding him on the court, relegated too often to running and standing in the corner, or making a backdoor cut to a pass that was never coming as LeBron or Anthony Edwards threw up a few too many tough shots. Maybe Steph was being too unselfish, making the extra pass for a team who weren’t together enough for the extra pass. Then Steph turnovers that felt familiar with over the head passes that went into the second row. And then the confusing line-ups of Steve Kerr. A starting lineup that wasn’t working but he stayed with it for too long. A DNP for Jayson Tatum when it seemed we could have used his length. At times Steph was so invisible on the court that a decent case could be made that he should be the 11th man on the roster.
Olympics basketball is tough because everyone is playing a role they are unfamiliar with, with players they are unfamiliar with, on a different sized court with slightly different rules. That’s a lot to adjust to. But the biggest adjustment is the lack of minutes. These are all players who are the 1-3 guys on their team, playing 30+ minutes all the time. But don’t take it from me. Take it from 5 time Olympic medalist Sue Bird.
Fortunately for USA basketball, Kevin Durant came back from injury to make everything better, rapidly going from the star of the bench to the link between the starting 5 and the bench to starting. KD has been at the Olympics more than anyone else on the team and the most consistent player in USA Basketball. And his return was fortunate for Steph as well. As soon as Durant got back on the floor, passes started going to Steph. Their years of playing together, their rhythm of finding each other on the floor, came back instantly. It didn’t result in Steph scoring a whole lot more, but it did help the flow of the game on the court, fewer drives to the basket, more passes, more looking out for each other on the way to a win.
And any moment with Kevin Durant and Steph Curry are on the floor is a moment where time stands still, where all the past glory and the present joy and the future regret for what could have been are all evident. When Durant left the Warriors, the rumors went wild about egos, about arrogance, unfairly painting Durant as the piece that didn’t fit. But as Steph called him “there’s the most misunderstood guy in the frickin league”
Whatever happened or didn’t happen on the team, these two have each other’s backs. So it makes moments on the court and pictures like these hit hard.
In the semi finals against Serbia, as the US battled their way back, dragged by Steph Curry, like many of you, I watched with my jaw dropped, not knowing if I was seeing an impossible loss or an impossible win. Feeling disbelief and total belief.
My friend texted me: “Still not chanting U-S-A yet?”
Fair question after my previous pronouncement here that I never want to yell U-S-A. But it did feel like a miracle worthy of chanting something. I re-watched the game later on that day because the first time I was too in it to remember it, to take in any of it. It was just as astonishing. The greatest game in USA basketball? In Olympic history?
In case it’s not fresh in your mind, this is the breakout Steph game, where he has 17 points in the first quarter, but the US is still down by 6 because Serbia is sinking everything and they are much more unified as a team. It’s the first of the Steph turnaround 3s, where Steph turns away from the basket before it’s in. Look at Bam, look at Tatum - this is the first time they’ve been able to root for this instead of facing it.
Side note: Jokic takes heat for looking neutral or unhappy while playing basketball, but it’s times like these that it’s clear - he just doesn’t like playing in the NBA. On the Serbia team, he’s the vocal leader, the inspirational force, the guy yelling and singing in the bus on the way home. He’s reserved in the NBA - those are not the words I would use for this.
By the end of the 3rd quarter, the US is down by 13 and Steph has broken the record for most 3s in an Olympic game. Then the 4th quarter where for the first time, the starting five look like a balanced team. Embiid comes through with some big plays, Durant has some clutch buckets and strong defense, Booker is getting all the little things done and LeBron is the point guard setting up everyone. US wins by 4, Curry ends with 36 points. It’s the Curry game.
But then there’s the gold medal game against France, which is somehow also the Curry game? This is what he does - piling excellence upon excellence. France with the hometown crowd and a team that had no fear is a fearsome opponent. They also sink 3s, they have momentum on their side, they even manage to humiliate LeBron trying to take a charge. Things like this don’t happen to LeBron.
On the US side, their success belonged to the trio of elder statesmen - LeBron, KD and Steph – who did not falter, had been in big games before and did their part. But the game was won because of Steph. Let’s revisit this. France has cut it to 3 points with 3 minutes left, 79-82.
Steph sticks a 3.
Less than a minute later, Steph sticks another 3, yelling “Don’t worry about me!” to the audience. And then another 3. On every play stoppage, Steph is talking to Devin Booker, making sure they are on the same page.
Scoring 12 points in 3 minutes, with his ridiculous last 3 point shot, looking off the open KD and LeBron and firing up over 2 defenders. Let’s relive it
Here’s the audio of the French broadcast of roughly the same footage.
I’ve now watched many times and every time I’m surprised by the total Steph takeover of the game, even though I’ve seen him take over games many times before. As Bam Adebayo explains: “[watching that shot] I was kind of like ‘what the fuck?’ And then I remembered who was shooting it.” Me too, Bam.
It was one for the ages.
Or as KD said:
“A lotta bullshit happen in our country. But a lot of great things happen too”
Before we leave the men’s team, a shout out to Devin Booker (a sentence I never could have imagined writing). He was a starter who could easily have lost his starting slot and instead, proved invaluable, doing whatever was necessary, often on defense, often without a stat to follow it, to help the team win. I’ve been at best neutral but more often disdainful of Booker and now I kinda like him? It’s hard to admit that you’re wrong. And for all the fantasizing about Curry and Durant or Curry and LeBron uniting on a team, Curry and Booker would be equally amazing. (I am personally not a fan of Curry and LeBron together, I think it would be bad for Curry).
A quick word about the women’s team, who were dominant until the final game, where they escaped, gritting out a win despite turnovers, missed layups, missed free throws and looking out of sync and either tired or sick or both in the final game. A’ja Wilson is the best woman playing basketball - you are missing out if you don’t see her. Diana Taurasi won her 6th Olympics gold medal.
And then there’s Gabby Williams, the nearly dragon slayer on the French national team. Former UConn star, former WNBA player (and now signed to the Seattle Storm), Gabby had to stop playing for the WNBA in order to play on the French national team because their schedules overlap. She has always been a disruptor on defense and a rock on offense. She can erase well thought out plans in a hurry and that’s what we saw in the gold medal game.
Just because I haven’t been writing about the WNBA doesn’t mean I’m not watching. The W have 8ish games left in their season before the playoffs so now is a great time to start watching - A’ja having a record year, Taurasi perhaps ending her career with Griner and Kahleah Copper, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, or The Sun, the Liberty and the Lynx as the top teams in the league. Just about any game on tv will be a good game to watch.
The Timeout Books: (books I read during the timeouts, halftimes and commercials)
There are no timeout books - those games were both too exciting and Olympics basketball has no media timeouts so there is little time for reading. Instead, a few pics - the Olympics brings together unlikely combinations of athletes getting to be together and here are two of them. One of Steph and Colin Kaepernick
And then of Kevin Durant and Angel Reese (fellow DMV natives) and Steph Curry at a women’s game.
A Game At A Time Playlist (the songs that pop in my head while writing this)