USA win fifth straight Olympic men's basketball gold in "Curry Time"

The USA defeated France 98-87 in the men's basketball final at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics on Saturday, extending their gold medal streak in the event to five in a row.

Coach Steve Kerr inserted Kevin Durant into the USA's starting lineup against host nation France, and he went 5-for-12 from the field to score 15 points while adding four assists, one steal and one block. The "Slim Reaper," who turns 36 next month, was also tasked with guarding Victor Wembanyama in the second half. The 20-year-old French superstar is even thinner than Durant, but also much taller and younger than the two-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Although it was not a decision Kerr wanted to make, he had no choice but to lean heavily on Durant, because Wembanyama proved practically unstoppable on the way to pouring in a game-high 26 points. Durant might be the only player on the USA's roster able to match the French center in agility while also being tall enough to deflect his shots.

The USA started the game with a strategy aimed at speeding up the tempo and going for easy transition buckets on fastbreaks. France managed to slow down the Americans in the second half, however, while showing solid discipline and aggression on the defensive end. The hosts also opted to put more muscles on Durant and Devin Booker on defense, in order to disrupt their shooting rhythm.

As for the USA's prime playmaker LeBron James, Guerschon Yabusele and Evan Fournier worked hard to deny him the ball. As long as the Americans were prevented from running their offense through James, the team's scoring options were more limited.

When Wembanyama put back a missed shot by Yabusele in the fourth quarter, France trailed by just three points, 82-79. But the rest of the game belonged to Stephen Curry.

Curry attempted 14 shots overall and connected on 8-of-13 from three-point range. Four of those triples came in the fourth quarter and all were classic long-distance "Curry Threes," rather than textbook outside shots.

"Before every shot you take, you think it's going in," Curry said after the game. "All I saw was the rim. I didn't see who was in front of me. I knew it was kind of a late clock situation, but that one impressed myself."

"I've seen that from Steph a few times, but it never gets old," Kerr said of Curry. "It's a global game with a lot of great players, but we still feel we have the greatest players."

James, 39, once again contributed a stroing all-around performance, tallying 14 points, six rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and one block.

"I'm just living in the moment, super humble that I can still play this game and play it at a high level," James said. "It came with us winning gold and that's what's more important for me. It's pretty cool."