Stephen Curry scored 24 points as the United States beat France 98-87 to win the gold medal in the men’s basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
Former University of Kentucky basketball stars Devin Booker, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo were part of Team USA and each won the second gold medal of their career.
The Americans also defeated the French in the final at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Team USA has now won gold at the last five Olympic Games.
France was close to scoring when a putback by Victor Wembanyama reduced the deficit to 82-79 with 2:58 minutes left in regulation time.
Curry, however, was able to reverse the trend by sinking three three-pointers in 1:34 to give the USA a 93-84 lead with 1:14 left.
Then, with 35 seconds left, Curry sent a high-arcing three-pointer over a double team that landed in the net, giving the U.S. team a nine-point lead as the home fans fell silent.
Curry’s points all came from long distance, the Golden State Warriors star sank 8 of 13 three-pointers. Kevin Durant and Booker each scored 15 points for the Americans, who also got 14 from LeBron James.
James also had six rebounds and ten assists.
Wembanyama scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds, the highest of the game. Guerschon Yabusele added 20 points, and the French shot 53.7% more than the French’s 47.2%.
Davis scored eight points and led the U.S. with nine rebounds and four blocked shots. Six of his rebounds came on offense. Booker also had six rebounds and three assists. Adebayo had two points and one rebound.
Booker was plus-18 in the gold medal game and plus-76 in the Olympics overall.
“Devin was incredible. He completely changed his role from the NBA to now,” said Steve Kerr, coach of the US team, in an ESPN report. “He was kind of our secret MVP.”
The Americans reached the gold medal game after overcoming a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Serbia in Thursday’s semifinals.
The Serbs responded with a 93-83 victory over Germany in the bronze medal game on Saturday. Nikola Jokic contributed 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to the win.
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