Crazy Photo of Steph Curry Capturing US Gold Medal Victory Over France

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In any other context, you’d think it was a David vs. Goliath movie. The little guy who proves that size isn’t everything, or that the only block to success is in your head, or that with a simple shift in mindset to the revolutionary system of World Class Basics, you too can be as fulfilled and successful as Jake Humphrey.

Then you look at the players’ jerseys and realize that the little guy is from the U.S. basketball team, perhaps the most Goliath-like creature in world sports. Oh, and he’s 6’3″, so he’s not so little after all.

He’s Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors shooting guard credited with revolutionizing basketball with his willingness to shoot from extreme distance and his remarkable accuracy when he does so. He’s shooting over Victor Wembanyama, the 7ft 4in, the NBA’s presumed French megastar for the next decade.

His time will have to wait a little longer after the US defeated France 98-87 at the Bercy Arena to win the men’s final. It wasn’t the explosion some expected, but the game was decided by an incredible display of shooting from Curry in the final quarter, who made four increasingly outrageous three-pointers to kill the energetic French resistance. It was a captain’s performance from Curry in what Americans will insist we call “the clutch,” but in a team of Alpha types, there is only one clear leader.

LeBron James turns 40 in December. He’s been in the NBA so long that his Los Angeles Lakers just drafted his son Bronny to play alongside him this year. But after the Americans finished in fourth place at last year’s World Cup, he’s led a ridiculously talented team of all-stars to come together for one last job.

It’s a special kind of pressure on the U.S. basketball team, the supposed perennial Olympic champions. It’s not enough to win; they have to do it convincingly. Shaquille O’Neal, a 1996 gold medalist, said this week that he didn’t watch the Games because he wasn’t impressed by America’s narrow margin of victory over South Sudan in an exhibition game. “If they don’t win by 20 points, I’m not impressed.”

Shaq may not have liked France hanging around in this game, but James’ ability to seize the spotlight even in such august company was almost voyeuristically magnetic. He wore new gold shoes for the occasion, which felt a little presumptuous. He played as if he were trying to prove a series of points about himself, like a bad father.

Yet France remained within reach until the final stages, with the American lead at one point shrinking to three points. Until Curry took control, a man too brilliant to be denied, even by a gigantic obstacle.

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