USA ready to face hostile French basketball crowd after narrow escape to Serbia | Paris 2024 Olympics

STeph Curry felt the pressure mounting. The United States men’s basketball team trailed Serbia and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić by 13 points in the fourth quarter of their Olympic semifinal on Thursday night after trailing by 17 in the first half, their four-game gold medal streak hanging by a thread.

It was the first time Curry faced the unique pressure faced by a U.S. basketball program that is 142-5 overall at the Olympics, including 35-1 since its failure at the Athens Olympics two decades ago. If he wins, it’s business as usual. If he loses, he risks leaving a lifelong stigma. Just ask LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, who has never quite outgrown the LeBronze nickname he earned for his peripheral role on the U.S. team that finished third after upset losses to Puerto Rico, Australia and Argentina.

“I went into this thinking this would be the one and only time I’d get to go to the Olympics and have this experience,” Curry said Friday. “I didn’t want to be part of the first U.S. team since 2004 that didn’t make the finals.

“So, all the thinking and trying to have fun playing, you know. It’s an interesting dynamic because we all committed to this, to accomplish a mission and we’re one game away from doing it. We were under threat like crazy for about 30 minutes yesterday (against Serbia) until we finally found a solution.”

In what U.S. teammate Kevin Durant described as a “godlike performance,” Curry scored 36 points against Serbia, one shy of the U.S. single-game Olympic record held by Carmelo Anthony, including the three-pointer that gave the Americans the lead for good with 2:24 left in a 95-91 victory. After suffering a humiliating defeat as heavy favorites, the Americans are now back on track and 40 minutes away from the ultimate prize in international basketball.

The United States won’t get any easier Saturday night against France, which eliminated a stingy Germany in Thursday’s first semifinal. Les Bleus are led by an offensive line featuring 6-foot-10 Rudy Gobert, a four-time NBA defensive champion, and 6-foot-10 Victor Wembanyama, perhaps the most promising young player since James turned pro more than two decades ago. It’s an athletic group filled with NBA talent that has come close to winning major tournaments in recent years, including in Tokyo, where they handed the United States its first Olympic loss in 17 years before suffering a five-point defeat in winning the gold medal.

“For us, for the whole staff, for the players, it’s a dream to be able to play the final in Paris,” said France coach Vincent Collet, who also coached Wembanyama when he played for Metropolitans 92 in the French top flight. “That’s what we said before the semi-final. I asked the players: ‘Are you going to let the German team steal the final from you?’ They said: ‘No, it’s not possible, it’s not possible, we’re dying on the pitch, it’s not possible.’”

For all the specific threats presented by Jokić and the tight-knit Serbian team, the Americans understand that France will pose a much different challenge in a particularly hostile environment inside Bercy Arena, where the hosts will be looking to become the first team to win men’s basketball gold on home soil since the United States in 1996.

“We expect them to play the game of their lives,” Curry said. “They’re going to feel the adrenaline on the court, they’re on a roll after these last two games. We’ve got to expect them to play well, but we expect that from ourselves, too.”

Joel Embiid, who scored 19 points against Serbia, can expect the worst. The American center has been booed by the crowd every time he touches the ball since the start of the tournament because of his decision to play for the United States instead of France. For his part, he has relished the negative reception: Embiid was the last player to leave the court after Friday’s narrow escape, taunting the crowd several times with the DX “suck it,” the same shot that earned him a great NBA season last season.

“I’m going to enjoy it,” Embiid said. “They’re going to boo me, I’m going to tell them to go fuck themselves. It’s going to be fun.”

France completely reinvented themselves after a lackluster performance in the group stage, incorporating Isaiah Cordinier and Guerschon Yabusele into the starting five and adopting a more physical style. That was never more evident in Thursday’s narrow semifinal win over Germany. While their flashiest NBA stars made just 9 of 32 shots, it was the lesser-known Yabusele and Cordinier who made the difference with a combined 33 points.

“The will to improve, the will to sacrifice for your team, the will to make the next pass, the next play for your teammate, it was always there but we needed time,” Wembanyama said of France’s volleyed conversion. “The intention was always good.”

U.S. coach Steve Kerr said the team returned to the hotel so late after Thursday night’s game that he only had time to watch a replay of the France game and the first half of the U.S. semifinal before finishing the video Friday morning, when preparations for the gold medal game began in earnest.

“It’s very impressive to watch their team evolve, change styles on the fly,” Kerr said. “They’re very physical. They play extremely hard, and what you can see from the video is how hard they play on both ends. We have to be prepared for that physicality and that strength. And we have to not only match that, but exceed that, and that’s the challenge.”

For Curry, the fear of the semifinal was the perfect preparation for Saturday’s final.

“I think last night will help us because we have to deal with adversity at the level we did because we know the crowd is going to be loud and nasty towards them, as they should be,” he said. “We have to be able to handle the emotions of it all.

“I’m sure each of us can think of a building we’ve worked in during our careers, a hostile environment where no one likes us and no one wants to see us. We have to channel that energy and be prepared for whatever comes our way.”