Steph Curry And LeBron James Saved America By Bringing Team USA Back From The Dead And Carrying Them Into The Gold Medal Round

ARIS MESSINIS. Getty Images.

Annnnnnnnd exhale!

My God was that about as close to a complete and utter disaster as you could possibly get. We're talking the biggest choke in the history of the sport if we're being honest, and that's not really being hyperbolic. Anything other than Gold for Team USA would be a colossal disaster, and credit Serbia, they almost made that a reality. Down by as much as 17 points, Team USA looked like they were on the ropes. Serbia was making everything, Team USA's offense looked stuck in the mud and when it came time to dig deep and find a way to win, it was a couple of familiar faces that ultimately saved the day.

Make no mistake, LeBron James and Steph Curry brought this team back from the dead. Finally, we got the vintage Steph game we had all been waiting for. He carried early with 17 first quarter points, and when it came time to show up in crunch time he more than delivered

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Team USA does not win this game without Steph's explosion, and even though there were some issues defensively, the shooting more than made up for it. He sure picked a hell of a time to snap out of his shooting slump, and when he gets into this sort of zone he remains one of the most electric players on the planet.

Then of course there was LeBron James. Not the first time he's saved America, and just like Steph he was an absolute monster down the stretch

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The fact that LeBron getting downhill is still the most unstoppable basketball play in 2024 makes no goddamn sense but I sure am glad he plays for Team USA. It's nice knowing that at the end of the day, we have LeBron and the rest of the world doesn't. When he puts his head down and lowers his shoulders, good fucking luck.

Just when it looked like Team USA was dead in the water, those two stepped up and did the heavy lifting, which is wild considering their age. That shouldn't be possible, yet here we are.

We also need to shoutout KD's huge jumper to seal it and then EVERYTHING Joel Embiid did offensively in the 4th. Huge bucket after huge bucket for a guy that was playing the biggest minutes of his basketball life. As valuable as Steph and LeBron were, those Embiid points were equally as massive.

At the end of the day, it was ugly and a near disaster, but a win is a win is a win. Now it's on to the Gold Medal game against France for a rematch of the 2020 Olympics, and sometimes this can act as the wake up call you need to make sure you come ready with everything on the line in a few days.

P.S.

Steve Kerr cemented himself as a Grade A bozo giving Jayson Tatum another DNP-CD despite how shitty Team USA was playing for about 85% of this game. Once again he was bailed out by LeBron and Steph, which seems to be a common theme for him.