Curry Joins Jordan, Carter, Other NC Products
With Huge Gold-Medal Buckets For Team USA
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
When Steph Curry finally found his shooting stroke at the Summer Olympics, helping the United States past Serbia (semifinals) and France (finals) in Paris with a sensational barrage of 3-pointers, he contributed to a fantastic, 65-year tradition of North Carolina products contributing to Team USA in meaningful ways, and he followed in the gold medal-winning footsteps of fellow in-state Olympics superstars such as Michael Jordan (UNC) and Vince Carter (UNC).
In his first four games in Paris, Curry converted a total of only five 3-pointers. Then the greatest long-range shooter in National Basketball Association history somehow found his rhythm, making 17 threes in the final two games as the Americans claimed the gold medal with hard-fought victories over Serbia (95-91) and France (98-87).
Curry, a product of Charlotte Christian School and Davidson College (near Charlotte), buried four 3-pointers in the final 2:46 of the championship game. Some veteran observers of international basketball called it one of the best clutch performances in Olympics men’s basketball history.
“There’s just a lot of faith, living and dying with the shots you think you should take,” Curry said. “The last two and a half 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.”
While 39-year-old Team USA star LeBron James earned the 2024 Olympics men’s basketball MVP honor, the three-time gold medalist turned to Curry down the stretch of the nip-and-tuck title game against France.
Curry, 36 years old but an an Olympics rookie, executed a perfect pick-and-roll with James with less than three minutes remaining and the Americans leading by only three points. Curry set a pick on the wing for James, dashed to the top of the key, caught the ensuing pass from James and nailed a straightaway 3-pointer to put Team USA up 85-79.
During the game’s next timeout, Curry suggested to Team USA coach Steve Kerr (also his coach with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors) that he and James should run the same play again, only with Curry handling the ball and James setting the pick this time.
“I said, ‘OK, let’s do that,’” Kerr said, “because I’ve seen this before, and it usually works out well.”
After James set the pick, Curry kept the ball and got his own defender to jump in the air, waited for him to land, then stroked a smooth 3-pointer from the left side of the top of the key. That finally gave Team USA some breathing room, with a 90-81 lead and less than two minutes remaining.
After France cut the lead back to six points, Curry brought the ball up for the floor but tried twice to get teammates Kevin Durant and Devin Booker involved. As Booker drove the baseline, though, he saw Curry open at the top of the key and passed to him. Again, Curry immediately got his defender in the air, waited for him to come down, and hit another three.
“He’s the best shooter to ever live,” Booker said.
Finally, after France again cut the Americans’ lead to six (93-87) with less than a minute remaining, Curry made one of the most amazing plays of the entire tournament. He passed the ball to Durant, who gave it immediately back to Curry, clearly sensing the sharpshooter’s recent roll. Somehow, despite being double-teamed, Curry then put up a long, awkward, uncharacteristically off-balance three-pointer … and it, too, went in the basket.
That’s when Curry put his hands to the side of his head, in a celebration he has called “night night.” Translation: game over.
“I was kind of like, ‘What the (expletive),’” Team USA center Bam Adebayo said of Curry’s bizarre-looking conversion. “Then I remembered who was shooting it.”
After the game, Curry seemed to sense both the greatness of his accomplishment and, at the same time, the gravity of the moment. Already a 15-year NBA veteran, he will be 40 years old in 2028, when the United States (mostly the Los Angeles area) hosts the next Summer Olympic Games.
“This might not come around again,” Curry said. “It was very, very special.”
NC Products On Team USA At Olympics
(Men’s Basketball: Double-Digit Scorers)
Ppg — Player, Year (medal)
17.1 — Michael Jordan*, 1984 (gold)
15.2 — Jayson Tatum, 2020 (gold)
14.9 — Michael Jordan, 1992 (gold)
14.8 — Steph Curry*, 2024 (gold)
14.8 — Vince Carter*, 2000 (gold)
12.9 — Tim Duncan, 2004 (bronze)
12.5 — Mitch Kupchak, 1976 (gold)
11.4 — Kyrie Irving, 2016 (gold)
11.4 — Danny Manning, 1988 (bronze)
11.3 — Phil Ford, 1976 (gold)
*—led Team USA in scoring
Note: “NC Products” = played high school and/or college basketball in North Carolina. For a complete list of NC products who have represented Team USA in men’s basketball at the Olympics (1936-2024), please click HERE.
