PARIS — Team USA captured the men's basketball gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, defeating France 98-87 on Aug. 10 at Bercy Arena. Stephen Curry delivered a clutch fourth-quarter performance to clinch his first Olympic title.
Curry finished with 24 points on eight three-pointers, four of them in the closing minutes. He ended the Paris Games with 22 three-pointers across the tournament.
France cut the U.S. lead to three, 82-79, in the fourth quarter. Curry answered with a three-pointer — pump-faking French defender Guerschon Yabusele, then dribbling right to the top of the key — to push the lead back out.
Less than a minute later, with the U.S. ahead 87-81, Curry hit another three, moving left before faking Nicolas Batum. The shot made it 90-81.
France refused to yield. Batum answered with a three-pointer to make it 90-84. Curry responded by faking Nando de Colo for his third three-pointer in 88 seconds, restoring a nine-point lead with just over a minute remaining.
Victor Wembanyama led France with 26 points. He hit a three-pointer with 55 seconds left to cut the deficit to 93-87.
Curry then delivered what teammates called the dagger. With the shot clock winding down, he danced with his dribble, stepped back and launched a shot over two French defenders — Batum and Evan Fournier.
Teammates were blunt about their expectations. Anthony Edwards said, "Hell nah," when asked if he thought the ball would go in. Bam Adebayo said, "I was kind of like, what the f--k?"
LeBron James, named tournament MVP after the game, praised Curry's performance. "Just simply marvel at his amazing talent," James said. James finished with 14 points, 10 assists and six rebounds against France.
Two days earlier, on Aug. 8, Team USA had secured a comeback victory against Serbia to reach the final.
