PARIS (AP) — Stephen Curry had only five 3-pointers in his first four games of the Paris Olympics combined. The shot just wasn’t falling.
And then came the medal round.
The all-time 3-point king in NBA history found his stroke in the nick of time for the Americans, making 17 3-pointers in the last two games against Serbia and France to help lead the U.S. to its fifth consecutive gold medal with a 98-87 win.
The last four of those 3-pointers came in the final 2:46 of the gold-medal game — a staggering display that anyone who watched will be hard-pressed to forget.
“There’s just a lot of faith, living and dying with the shots you think you should take,” Curry said. “The last 2 1/2 minutes were special. Guys were hyping me up. We had confidence in what we were trying to do. And I was just really present in the moment, enjoying myself.”
A breakdown of Curry’s dramatics to seal gold for the U.S.:
The first one
LeBron James — now a three-time gold medalist and, at 39, the MVP of this Olympic tournament — brought the ball across midcourt, and Curry waved Anthony Davis away to create space for the pick-and-roll that was coming. Curry set it, then moved to the top of the key and took the pass from James.
Curry shook free of French defender Guerschon Yabusele and made the 3-pointer from straightaway.
Little did anyone know, he was just getting started.
— USA 85, France 79, 2:41 left.
The second one
In the timeout with 2:22 left, Curry suggested that he and James keep running the pick-and-roll and having everyone else spread the floor. A simple set, but very effective for someone generally considered the best shooter in the history of basketball. So, they ran it, this time with James setting the screen.
“I said, ‘OK, let’s do that because I’ve seen this before,’” said U.S. coach Steve Kerr, who also is Curry’s coach with the Golden State Warriors. “And it usually works out well.”
Curry kept the ball, got defender Nicolas Batum in the air, waited for him to land and then shot from the left side of the top of the key.
Curry was yelling a message as he headed back down the floor. “Don’t worry about me,” he kept saying.
Nobody was at that point.
— USA 90, France 81, 1:52 left.
The third one
Batum had just made a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to six. Curry brought the ball down the floor and gave it to Kevin Durant, who immediately gave it back. Curry sent the ball his way again and eventually it was in the hands of Devin Booker.
As Booker drove the baseline, he saw Curry open at the top of the key again.
He wound up using basically the same move as the possession before; this time, it was waiting for Nando de Colo to bite on the head fake. Another 3-pointer, good.
“He’s the best shooter to ever live,” Booker said.
Curry screamed several times afterward, then hoisted the top of his jersey to show the “USA” across his chest.
— USA 93, France 84, 1:18 left.
The fourth one
Victor Wembanyama connected on a 3-pointer, the last salvo of his 26-point night, to get France within 93-87 with 54.4 seconds left. The Americans went back to Curry, as everyone knew they would.
He sent the ball to Durant, just as he did in the previous possession. And Durant gave it right back again.
Curry got the hint. He was keeping the ball this time. He forced a shot over Batum and Evan Fournier, kind of an off-balanced heave that looked like a mistake.
“I was kind of like, ‘What the (expletive),’” U.S. center Bam Adebayo said. “Then I remembered who was shooting it.”
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Of course, it was going in. The U.S. was up 96-87 with 35 seconds left. The French swimming star of these Paris Games, four-time gold medalist Léon Marchand, could only smile from his courtside seat.
Curry put his hands to the side of his head in celebration. “Night night,” he calls it, a reference where he tells the other team it’s time to go to sleep. In France, it translates to “nuit nuit.”
The game was over. The gold would be worn by Americans again. Curry watched Durant win gold medals at three previous Olympics. He watched Simone Biles win the all-around gold in women’s gymnastics in the same arena earlier in the Paris Games. He wanted that moment, desperately.
And with four unforgettable shots, he delivered.
“This might not come around again,” Curry said. “It was very, very special.”
