The USA Men’s Olympic basketball team is supposed to be made up of the best players in the world. They won the Gold medal again for the umpteenth time, first beating Serbia, then France, in the medal round. They are a great team, but they aren’t the best team the US has ever assembled! They are without a doubt, though, the luckiest. They must know how lucky they are; they have to. The eleven players not named Curry, are on the podium receiving a Gold medal, one the most coveted awards for athletic excellence, because Stephen Curry was the classic, iconic, vintage Steph Curry in those last two games. Were it not for Curry scoring 36 points and making clutch three-pointers in the fourth quarter against Serbia, AND were it not for Curry’s ball-handling and unconscious three-point shooting in the closing minutes against France, the US team would have failed to get a medal or at best have to settle for bronze. He was truly the most valuable, most outstanding basketball player, at least in the two games that counted.
Yet, I just read that LeBron James was named Most Valuable Player. Really? LeBron? MVP? Yes, that’s right. Maybe for the entire 6 games but not at crunch time the last two games. While I admit LeBron made some big plays, and as always was a dominant force in the games, both offensively and defensively, I disagree he was the MVP. The U.S. did not beat France because of LeBron. He made five turnovers and had only 14 points. Against France, the whole team underperformed and made passes, alright, but they were of the careless, lackadaisical, and telegraphed varieties. They played just hard enough to maintain a lead until late in the fourth quarter. That’s when France refused to bow to King James and his court. They kept scrapping, hustling, making solid basketball plays, and scoring when they had to and cut the US lead to 3 points.
That’s when Curry, not LeBron, took over. He wasn’t gonna lose that game. He was there to win a Gold medal! He wanted the ball in his hands and his teammates responded. If Curry didn’t have the ball in his hands, his teammates got it to him. In the span of 2:12, Curry made four 3-pointers. And they weren’t uncontested. France wanted to win, too, so Curry got double-teamed, and his shots were definitely under duress. Curry being Curry, though, he was 4 for 4, and after 3 of those shots, I couldn’t help but yell “unbelievable!” They really were, and Curry really was great!
The United States won that game because of the shooting magic of Steph Curry, not because of LeBron James. Curry took over the game and changed a 3-point deficit into an 11-point win. In the Serbia game, the U.S. trailed by as many as 15 points and didn’t tie the game until 3:41 remained. Curry had 36 points against Serbia and kept the U.S. in it. He and LeBron teamed up to come from behind for a lucky 4-point win 95-91. If Serbia had made 3-pointers in the 4th quarter as effectively as they had the rest of the game, the outcome would have been different, and the US would be coming home empty-handed or with Bronze, not Gold.
In the games for a Gold medal, Stephen Curry was clearly, in my mind, the most outstanding player. Without his play, the US loses. Give LeBron the MVP award, if you like, but give Steph Curry the praise he is due. He definitely earned it, and the U.S. was definitely very lucky because Steph Curry bailed them out!
PS: I still have a beef with Steve Kerr for completely ignoring Tyrese Halliburton. He didn’t play in at least two of the six games. When he did play it was only briefly. Is he that much of a liability? It seems Kerr chose one or two players each game to sit it out. I don’t get it. The medal games against Serbia and France were tough, close games, and I understand a coach wants to play his best players, but Halliburton could have played more than he did. Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Joel Embiid all got at least a one-game snub, but with Halliburton it was blatant.
PPS: The closeness of the last two games says the rest of the basketball world has caught up to the U.S. and next time the U.S. team better take their opponents more seriously and play hard the full 40 minutes.
PPPS: LeBron is getting old (39)! Did you notice the gray in his beard? He can still play, though.
ADD: The women’s team was very lucky to win, too. The U.S. guard play was terrible. I am absolutely certain Caitlin Clark would have made a difference!
