Since Steve Kerr became a head coach with the Warriors in 2014, he has urged three core basketball principles.
His Team USA squad applied each on Saturday, and the result was a gold medal victory at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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Team USA relied on ball movement, pace and depth – as well as some spectacular late work from Stephen Curry – to come away with a 98-87 win over a France club inspired by the home crowd.
Ten different players scored, led by Curry’s 24 points. Team USA recorded 29 assists on 36 field goals and its early ball pressure increased the tempo, leading to a 31-9 advantage in fast-break points.
As a bonus, Team USA shot 18 of 36 from beyond the arc, outscoring France 54-27 from distance.
Here are three observations from the gold medal game that closes out the men’s basketball portion of these Olympics:
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Steph the closer
Though Team USA led by as much throughout the second half, with the margin as high as 13 points, France and its crowd never showed the slightest indication of surrender.
But when France got within three (82-79) with 2:58 remaining, Curry made it clear just how badly he wanted his first Olympic gold medal.
A 3-ball with 2:48 remaining to push the lead back to six. Another with 1:53 left to push it to nine (90-81). Another with 1:14 remaining to put it back to nine (93-84).
And, finally, the dagger, a soaring step-back over two defenders with 34.5 seconds remaining to put France to sleep.
And, yes, Curry punctuated the moment with his traditional “night-night” pose while jogging back on defense.
Curry finished with a team-high 24 points, on 8-of-14 shooting from the field – with all eight field goals coming off 13 attempts beyond the arc.
Here comes KD
As he has throughout these Olympics, Kerr studied the opponent, scanned his roster, considered matchups and chose what he believed would be the appropriate starting lineup.
Which for this game meant a change: Jrue Holiday out, Kevin Durant in.
Durant, who missed all of Team USA’s exhibition games while nursing a strained calf, entered the starting lineup for the first time after coming off the bench in each of the first five games.
Why Durant? Length. And, well, scoring ability. With France having 7-footers Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama, Kerr chose to avoid a three-guard lineup and go big. Though Durant is listed at 6-foot-9, the forward’s actual height (6-foot-11) is more purposeful than the 6-foot-4 guard Holiday.
Durant responded with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
This was Team USA’s fifth different starting lineup across four exhibitions and six games in Paris.
AD massive off the bench
With Team USA’s depth of full display, no one better personified it than center Anthony Davis.
AD patrolled the paint with gusto, gobbled up rebounds and thwarted a number of France's offensive possessions.
With Joel Embiid starting at center, Davis was the first big man off the bench, ahead of Bam Adebayo. He finished with eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
Davis led all bench scorers in playing time, recording 20 minutes, nine more than Embiid.
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