Team USA coach Steve Kerr praised Steph Curry and his players’ “incredible effort” after the tournament favourites came back with under three minutes remaining to reach the final of the Summer Olympics 2024 basketball tournament with a 95-91 win over Serbia at the Bercy Arena.
Curry contributed 36 points – including nine 3-pointers – and put the USA ahead with little more than a minute remaining of a game in which they had been behind almost throughout.
“It’s impossible to rank Steph’s performances because there have been so many big games,” Kerr told ESPN after his team set up a final against France on Saturday.
“It didn’t surprise me at all that Steph had the game that he did; he always comes up huge when he’s needed the most. It was the competitive spirit of the group that really stood out to me and we really needed everything because Serbia played, I thought, the perfect game. They were amazing and we had just enough time to catch them and make the comeback at the end.”
A special generation. pic.twitter.com/o4JA7BSVBg
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 9, 2024
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USA vs Serbia ‘incredible’
Kerr also singled out LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker’s defending and Joel Embiid for his performance against three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic.
“The way he battled Jokic and made those plays in the fourth quarter,” Kerr said of Embiid. “Our guys were incredible. What an incredible effort from the group.”
The USA have won the last four editions of the tournament and had not been expected to suffer as much against opponents they beat 110-84 during the group stage.
Going for Gold against the hosts.
🇺🇸 #USABMNT vs 🇫🇷 France on Saturday (3:30 pm ET, NBC + Peacock). pic.twitter.com/Xjp4rMvf9Z
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 9, 2024
Durant: Olympics ‘special’
“That was at the top – one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of, for the simple fact that we dug deep,” Durant told the outlet.
“There was a lot of non-verbal action out there – guys just knew where each other was going to be at both ends of the floor. It was special to be a part of.
“We talked about how, for each game, somebody might have to step up. It might be your night. [Curry] stepped up and had the best night of anybody at the whole tournament.
“It was so incredible to watch him knock down shots to keep us afloat. Bron played extremely hard the whole game, Joel was insane tonight.
“I just love what everybody did. This game’s going to go down as one of the most memorable for anybody. [Serbia’s] whole team played extremely well. It was just high-level basketball that everybody could enjoy.”
