August 8, 2024 vs. Serbia

That’s right. We just witnessed the best individual performance in a Team USA basketball game since the program started using professionals in 1992.

Had Curry not played the way he did on Thursday, the Americans would be out of this tournament. Serbia was playing inspired defense, shooting the lights out and looked about as hungry as a team could for a victory.

In every close-up of Jokić or Bogdan Bogdanović, you could almost feel the desire to win emanating off the screen.

But while that may have been enough to neutralize much of Team USA’s roster, it couldn’t cool off Curry, who entered the semifinal averaging 7.3 points and shooting just 25.0 percent from three.

From the opening tip, Curry was laser-focused. He finished with 36 points on 12-of-19 shooting (including 9-of-14 from three). And he finally brought with him that same inevitability that followed him through the 2022 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.

For one of the 10-15 greatest players in NBA history, a legacy game really wasn’t necessary. Curry gave us one anyway, and the Americans will play for gold because of him.