What We Learned When Steph Scored 36 Points in Team USA Rally Past Serbia

What We Learned When Steph Scored 36 Points in Team USA Rally Past Serbia originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SCORE CARD

Steph Curry’s sensational performance helped Team USA beat Serbia 95-91 at the Bercy Arena on Thursday to advance to the gold medal match at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. They will play France on Saturday.

Curry came out of the blocks like a rocket and was unstoppable by the Serbian defense that made the United States sweat for 40 minutes. Curry scored 36 points on 12 of 19 shooting, made nine 3-pointers and grabbed eight rebounds. Before the semifinals, Curry had scored a total of 29 points in four games and was averaging just 7.3 points.

When Team USA needed a hero to step up, Curry answered the call. His 3-pointer with two minutes left gave them the lead and they never looked back. Team USA outscored Serbia 32-15 in the fourth quarter.

LeBron James gave Team USA a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, and Joel Embiid added a key 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting.

Team USA trailed by as many as 17 points, but their largest lead going into the fourth quarter was two points.

Below are three lessons learned from Team USA’s fourth-quarter efforts to win the championship game against the host country of the Olympic Games.

The Steph Show is here

The wait was worth it. Used primarily as a third option, Steve Kerr used his gravity as the all-time leading shooter to give his teammates open looks during the first four games of the Olympics. He wasted no time getting Curry going from the start. A jumper from Curry opened the scoring and was just a glimpse of what was to come.

While Serbia used a series of scorers, Curry was the only American to score early in the game. Three minutes into the game, Curry had scored 14 of Team USA’s first 15 points, after scoring just seven in the previous game two days ago. His 17 points in the first quarter were his most in a game, let alone a quarter, at the Olympics.

Curry had made five 3-pointers in the first four games, then exploded for five in the first quarter on Thursday. But Team USA trailed Serbia by eight points after the first 10 minutes.

At halftime, with Team USA down by 11 points, Curry had 20 points on 7 of 10 shooting and 6 of 9 from 3-point range. However, his teammates were good for just 23 points on 8 of 21 shooting and made just three 3-pointers on 10 attempts. Curry’s 16 second-half points grew more important with each bucket, making for one of the best games in Team USA Olympics history.

The Big Three

And that’s what happens when Curry, James and Kevin Durant are all on the court together for the same team.

Kerr finally brought the three faces of a generation together on the court to start the fourth quarter, and the future Hall of Famers carried the torch toward the end. James, 39, Curry, 36, and the 35-year-old Durant played the entire fourth quarter. In the deciding period, it was those three who gave Team USA the victory.

Team USA hadn’t missed the gold medal game since James was 19 and played his first Olympics in 2004. That wouldn’t happen again. Durant is the best American basketball player in U.S. history, and he showed why in the final period.

After not scoring a single goal in the first half, Durant scored seven of his eight points in the fourth quarter.

Most Valuable Player vs Most Valuable Player

The two players who have represented the last four NBA MVP awards, three by Jokic and one by Embiid, went head-to-head in all four quarters. Since the start of the exhibition games, questions have continued to be asked about Embiid’s fitness and fitness on Team USA. He silenced his critics.

Embiid also played Jokic out. If Jokic hadn’t gotten into trouble with fouls and missed shots, the final score would probably have been in Serbia’s favor.

True to his tradition, Jokic filled the stat sheet with 17 points and 11 assists. However, he also converted just seven of his 17 shots and missed all six of his 3-point attempts. On the other hand, Embiid missed just three shots and made two of his three shots from beyond the arc.

While Embiid was plus-15 in 19 minutes, Jokic was minus-10 in 17 minutes. This one went to The Process over The Joker. Get ready for nonstop loud boos for Embiid when Team USA takes on France in the championship game.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast