{"id":94223,"date":"2024-09-04T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T12:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=94223"},"modified":"2024-09-04T06:50:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T10:50:00","slug":"stephen-currys-team-usa-gold-medal-hasnt-really-sunk-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/04\/stephen-currys-team-usa-gold-medal-hasnt-really-sunk-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Curry\u2019s Team USA Gold Medal \u201cHasn\u2019t Really Sunk In\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Olympics are over and it ended with Team USA men\u2019s basketball winning their fifth straight gold medal. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Curry<\/a>, however, has not forgotten the magic he brought to Team USA just a few weeks ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Stephen Curry\u2019s Team USA Gold Medal \u201cHasn\u2019t Really Sunk In\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curry is still trying to soak it all in. After an incredible performance in the Paris 2024 Olympics, he recently told CNBC that the way Team USA won gold \u201cstill hasn\u2019t really sunk in\u201d. He admitted to watching his own highlights from the last couple of games. Although he expected to win gold with the incredible USA basketball <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/02\/top-5-nba-power-forwards-heading-into-the-2024-25-season\/\" target=\"_self\">roster<\/a>, the fashion he dominated even took the future Hall of Famer by surprise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cObviously the France game\u2026 That last 3 minutes was story book stuff\u2026 But how it happened, I still watch some highlights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steph Curry is still soaking in Team USA\u2019s Olympic Gold Medal \ud83d\ude02<\/p>\n<p>(via <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CNBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CNBC<\/a>) <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8aXdsMHOE3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/8aXdsMHOE3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ClutchPoints\/status\/1831051119541276859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 3, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curry didn\u2019t start the Olympics playing well. Through the group phase and the quarter<\/span>finals, he had only scored in double-digits once and was shooting poorly from the three-point line. Through the first four games, he averaged a disappointing 7.3 points and shot below 30% from deep. For perspective, Curry\u2019s lowest 3-point percentage of his career in the NBA is 38%. After all, he is the greatest shooter of all time.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>LeBron James and Curry Getting Older<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For many Curry fans, the beginning of the Olympics was a glimpse at his mortality. At 36 years old, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">most NBA superstars are retiring, or at the very least, taking a giant step back. For Curry, and his longtime rival <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>, the Olympics was an opportunity to show that the faces of the league for the last decade (or in LeBron\u2019s case two decades), still had it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Curry\u2019s slow start and LeBron\u2019s excellent play, it seemed like the 39-year-old James had more in the tank. Once the semifinals started, everyone thinking Curry\u2019s best years were behind him was silenced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Curry Brings Team USA Gold<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">24 PTS, 6 3PM&#8230; Steph Curry was cooking all game in the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/USABMNT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#USABMNT<\/a> Showcase win against Serbia \ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83c\udf73\ud83d\udd25 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jCSL83CJSf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/jCSL83CJSf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1813638173035229510?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 17, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the semi-final match against <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> and Team Serbia, Team USA was struggling. At one point, they were down 17 points and Team USA fans had a genuine reason for concern. Then came a classic Curry flurry. He ended the game with 36 points and nine three-pointers (the most made in a single game these past Olympics).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The gold medal match against France was a similar story. The stacked Team USA team looked like they could be beat. Then Chef Curry caught fire. Curry poured in four clutch three-pointers over the final couple minutes of the game and brought Team USA the gold medal they all expected to receive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Team USA Performance Shows Curry Needs Help<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After his Paris 2024 Olympics performance, Curry proved that he still has a lot left in the tank. The Golden State Warriors are now two championships removed from their incredible 2022 run. They\u2019ve lost Curry\u2019s longtime running mate <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompkl01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Klay Thompson<\/a>, and now the pressure is on for them to get some<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/03\/the-top-5-best-small-forwards-for-the-2024-25-nba-season\/\" target=\"_self\"> more talent<\/a> to replace him. Will the Warriors take Curry\u2019s USA basketball Olympic performance as a sign to get him some top talent? If not, Curry may have to continue enjoying his Olympic basketball highlights and get ready to carry the team alone once again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Olympics are over and it ended with Team USA men\u2019s basketball winning their fifth straight gold medal. Stephen Curry, however, has not forgotten the magic he brought to Team USA just a few weeks ago. Stephen Curry\u2019s Team USA Gold Medal \u201cHasn\u2019t Really Sunk In\u201d Curry is still trying to soak it all in. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":94263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1608,62,60],"tags":[49184,70,38,72,48,2081],"class_list":["post-94223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-warriors","category-basketball","category-nba","category-olympics","tag-2024-olympics","tag-klay-thompson","tag-lebron-james","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-stephen-curry","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}