With 2:46 left in the game Saturday, with the United States on the verge of losing its birthright – an Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball – the desperate cry went out from the nervous Americans who didn’t want to be remembered as the players who embarrassed a country.
Hey, Steph, can you help a brother out?
LeBron James didn’t want the basketball. Hell no. Kevin Durant didn’t. A team full of future Hall of Famers shied away as if it was radioactive. France was within three points with 2:46 left in the game. This wasn’t the 1992 Dream Team — no Magic, Michael or Larry here. There weren’t star-struck players on the other side masquerading as“ competition”.
They were about to become the 2024 Nightmare Team, a Scarlet Letter placed on their forehead, LOSERS, harsh, belittling, never to be washed off or explained away. That’s how much ego and ownership Americans have of the game they invented.
Steph – I won’t use his last name for the same reason I call the greatest boxer in the world Ali – flipped the switch. We’ve seen it before with the Warriors. Suddenly he becomes Steph The Video Game. But this time it wasn’t the NBA Finals. This time it was the Olympics. This was the world watching. Not someone at a bar in Teaneck, New Jersey.
This was France with such a home court advantage it made Boston Garden sound like a bake sale. France has the sport’s next superstar, Victor Wembanyama, which shows how the sport has shifted globally. If you’re going to build an NBA champion, start with Luka Doncic or Giannis Antetokounmpo or Joel Embiid or Nikola Jokic or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Wembayama.
Except for one player: Steph. No one has Steph. No country has Steph which is underselling his skills at shooting. The universe doesn’t have Steph. Think of it this way: Ray Allen is second to Steph in career 3-pointers made. If Steph were to miss the next 549 3’s, he’d still have a higher percentage of made 3’s than Allen.
So with 2:46 in the game and USA leading 82-79, Steph hits a 3. Fifty-five seconds later Steph hits another 3. Thirty-three seconds pass and he hits another 3. By this time even the guy selling popcorn knows where the ball is going. Team USA is making no attempt at team basketball. Steph The Video Game is happening and at most two passes occur before the ball is in his hands.
It’s a highly skilled game of Hot Potato. Sixteen seconds – SIXTEEN SECONDS MIND YOU – after his last trey Curry gets the ball and France sends Skyscraper One and Skyscraper Two on Steph. With 34.5 seconds left in the game, standing in front of the two redwoods, Steph launches a moon ball to evade the hands. It has the arc of a rainbow. To those old enough to remember former Warrior Purvis Short, that’s Purvis in his prime, the ball flying higher than the length of the shot itself.
The announcers fell all over the language. After the required screaming as if they had just seen Bigfoot, words like“ Avalanche!” and“ Golden Dagger!” came forth. There would have been more bursts of unbridled exuberance but, you know, they had to breathe first. The crowd shouted something in French that would have fried a filet.
Steph had scored 12 of his team’s last 16 points, in less than three minutes. The four shots never hit the rim. Only net. He finished it with his well-known sleep mime, hands together, placed on the side of his face. Steph decided the game and never got closer than 22 feet to the basket to do it.
LeBron James was named the MVP of the tournament which was absurd, a nod to his legend but not his performance. Steph saved their bacon. USA doesn’t win the gold medal without his 60 points in their last two games. No one has ever scored that many closing out the Olympic basketball tournament.
As expected, the hosannas and the comparisons to the Flash Bulb moments in sports emerged. It tortures the memory to compare apples with oranges. Such as this one: Joe Montana began his legend in 1982 with that touchdown pass to John Taylor to win Super Bowl XVI.
The only problem: Joe needed Taylor. Steph only needs the basketball. Steph only needs a place to stand. Exaggeration, hyperbole, and even an outright lie (Steph hit it falling, on one knee, blindfolded) all are acceptable.
Yes, the man had his moments in winning four NBA titles but this was different. Think of it this way: Steph rescued a Hall of Fame team, not the Warriors. The guy (James) who some claim is better than Jordan gave Steph the ball and got out of his way. LeBron surrendered the spotlight at the most critical moment. They all did.
Imagine LeBron shelving the ego. Imagine the necessity. Imagine his compliment. And then imagine the relief. This wasn’t the NBA Finals but you wouldn’t have known it. All athletes, especially the great ones, are fueled by pride. The Look afterward, they all had it. James and Steph walked the court as if it was a runway and they sighed so obviously they almost sucked all the oxygen out of the building.
Team USA knew it had come close to losing its birthright. USA saw the world the last two weeks and they saw big men who could move with them players who could pass with them and players who weren’t intimidated by the initials USA. They knew they belonged and they scared the hell out of those initials. They had the confidence. They had the answers. They had everything.
Except Steph.
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Publish date : 2024-08-12 11:06:00
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