The iconic Steph Curry flurry to end Saturday's Olympic men’s basketball gold medal game will go down as one of the Warriors star’s most memorable career moments.
Team USA coach Steve Kerr revealed after the 98-87 win over France an insightful tidbit about the timeout that preceded those four 3-pointers in the final three minutes.
“Down the stretch, Steph took over,” Kerr told reporters (h/t Joe Vardon of The Athletic). “He actually suggested in the timeout with about three minutes left, he said, ‘Let me run a clear side pick and roll with LeBron, and we’ll spread the floor.’ I said, ‘OK, let’s do that, because I’ve seen it before and it usually works out well.’
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“And then he put on that show down the stretch in the last few minutes, and it was pretty amazing to watch.”
Kerr's response was, essentially, “Sure, that sounds good. Just don’t throw the ball to the other team.”
Curry explained his mindset heading into clutch time and how he felt during the unbelievable barrage.
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“I was just trying to settle us down,” Curry said (h/t Ron Kroichick of The San Francisco Chronicle). “All we wanted to do was get a good shot -- it had been a while since we had a good possession. The first one, when we were up three, they had momentum on their side. I just got to a spot.
“At that point, your mind goes blank. You don’t really care about the setting or the scenario or anything. Thankfully, that one went in and settled us down. After that, it’s just rhythm and flow and confidence.”
Warriors fans are quite familiar with that rhythm, seen countless times over Curry's 15-year NBA career. But it still was wildly impressive to everyone, including his teammates and the dominant shooter himself.
“I was kind of like, ‘What the f---?’ ” Bam Adebayo said after Curry's final dagger (h/t The Chronicle's Ann Killion). “But then I had to remember who was shooting it.”
“He cold, he cold," Anthony Edwards added.
“That impressed me,” Curry said. “I impressed myself.
“The last two and half minutes were special,” Curry added. “Guys were hyping me up. We had a confidence in what we were trying to do. I was just really present in the moment and enjoying myself.”
It's hard to imagine Curry still could blow the minds of the collective basketball world -- himself included -- but he simply keeps finding ways to do so time and again.