Team USA’s Olympic gold led by Booker and Durant’s performances

Everyone on the Phoenix Suns was able to mentally reset in some type of way this summer in order to move from a tremendously disappointing season. The superstar duo of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant had the best reset experience of the bunch by winning an Olympic gold medal in a 98-87 final for Team USA over France.

Booker finished with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists. He played the entire fourth quarter for the second straight game, a testament to his importance on this team. The trio of Booker (+18), LeBron James (+17) and Stephen Curry (+20) was the stabilizing force across a game that could have gone either way.

Durant added 15 points, four rebounds and four assists, drilling a couple of key shots in the second half. He becomes the all-time leader in the history of the men’s program with four Olympic gold medals while Booker now has two.

The competitiveness of this game rivaled the NBA Finals. Don’t define that word by the score line as much as the fire and spirit on the floor. It was absolutely through the roof, amped up further by a unbelievable crowd making serious noise for both sides.

The signature shooting barrages of Curry’s marvelous career capped what was a magical two final contests to watch for the Americans.

France hung around enough through some turnover issues for Team USA to be down just three with under three minutes to go. Curry then went bonkers, downing France with back-to-back-to-back-to-back 3s, ended by a dagger that was such a storybook ending it must be etched with a Song of Ice and Fire.

"THE GOLDEN DAGGER!"

Steph Curry that is utterly ridiculous. 🤯#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/8hIN8tgmfK

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024

Curry and Durant actually began 1-for-8 from three-point range and another stagnant offensive spurt from the second unit affected what should have been a double-digit lead for the United States. Instead, it was a slight France advantage early in the second quarter as the starters trickled back into the game.

That’s when James could sense he needed to take over when he got back in the game. It began with an isolation on Victor Wembanyama in which he boldly failed an attempt at a T-Mac, lobbing the ball to himself off the backboard, before he got himself and the squad rolling. James had a grab-and-go finish, Booker drilled a 3, Curry knocked one down from Booker on a sweet extra pass and then a Bam Adebayo dunk was followed by another James transition masterclass for an and-1.

That had Team USA up six to quickly regain control of the game in a 13-6 run over two-plus minutes. Durant then finally got another 3 to fall, as did Curry, and then a Booker transition and-1 finish completed a tremendous effort from the starters to buffer the lead to 10 late in the first half.

It was an eight-point edge for the Americans at halftime with 16 assists and 20 made field goals.

The balance of their effort began to overwhelm the French. Joel Embiid established himself on the block to get to the line and Curry hit his fourth triple of the night when he set a screen for James, a nightmarishly impossible defensive scenario to consider. Durant converted two midrange jumpers to relocate his rhythm as well.

The only way Team USA was going to fumble away its grip on the game was becoming its own worst enemy. Seven turnovers in the last 6:18 of the third quarter let France and its crowd to get back in it. The lead was only six going into the fourth.

The Americans widened the gap midway through the fourth quarter but the unforced errors persisted and France climbed back to a 82-79 margin at under three-and-a-half minutes to go, setting the stage for the Curry explosion.

Curry’s 24 points were a special moment for him in his first Olympics and something we as basketball fans have to consider might be the last time we ever see him at these heights again. The Golden State Warriors dynasty is over and he’s 36 years old. Appreciate what we saw from him even more if you weren’t already.

Ditto for James. He did get careless with his decision-making in a second half. He was trying to close out before Curry’s heroics but was still great in this game, particularly in a spectacular first half. It was 14 points, six rebounds and 10 assists to cap off a tremendous tournament in which FIBA crowned him MVP.

Anthony Davis had his best game of the Olympics and was an awesome bench big. In 20 minutes, he produced eight points, nine rebounds, an assist, two steals and four blocks.

Wembanyama was absolutely up for his moment, an omen for what is to come over the rest of his career. The 20-year-old scored a game-high 26 points and Guerschon Yabusele added 20 to also meet the moment as one of the best players in the tournament.

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