Steph Curry is already one of the greatest players of all time. I’m not going to argue about where exactly he belongs on that list yet, because his career is still going, but you’d have to be insane to deny his place amongst the best to ever lace them up.
After revolutionizing the way basketball is played with his ability to shoot the ball from seemingly any range, Curry’s already had a Hall of Fame career. Here’s an incomplete list of what he’s achieved in the NBA:
- 4x NBA Champion
- 1x NBA Finals MVP
- 2x MVP (only player to ever become unanimous MVP)
- 1x NBA All-Star MVP
- 4x All-NBA first team
- 4x All-NBA second team
- 2x All-NBA Third Team
- 1x NBA Clutch Player of the year
- NBA 75th Anniversary Team
And that’s not even counting his college achievements.
Now, at the twilight of his illustrious career, Chef Curry has managed to add yet another feather to his cap. He is now an Olympic gold medalist and put on what I feel is the greatest back-to-back performance in Olympic Basketball history.
After rightfully copping some flak for not dominating in some of the exhibition, group, and earlier elimination games, the greatest shooter in NBA history responded by raining destruction on Serbia to help Team USA come back from a double-digit deficit. Curry scored a game-high 36 points in that performance.
Then, in the gold medal round, it was once again Curry’s time to shine when the game was in the balance. Curry scored 12 of Team USA’s final 16 points in this sequence in the final three minutes:
- (2:58) Victory Wembanyama pulls France to within 82-79
- (2:48) Curry makes a three to push the lead to 85-79
- (2:22) Kevin Durant make a pair of free throws to make it 87-79
- (2:11) Nando De Coco hits a jumper to make it 81-87
- (1:53) Curry hits another three to make it 90-81
- (1:42) Nicolas Batum makes a three to cut it to 90-84
- (1:14) Curry drains a three to make it 93-84
- (0:55) Victor Wembanyama makes a three to cut it to 93-87
- (0:35) Curry hits the dagger three to make it 96-87
- (0:21) Devin Booker makes a layup to make the final screline of 98-87
- (0:12) Just for good measure, Curry steals the ball
That’s two games in a row where Curry was instrumental in deciding the victory. Both France and Serbia played so goddamn well in the semifinals and finals and deserve credit, but Curry found a way to put his stamp in the final three minutes of both contests.
Considering his age, it’s likely that this is the one and only time we’ll ever see Curry play in the Olympics. If that’s the case, the “Sky Fucker” made sure we’d fucking remember it for the rest of our lives.
He gets my vote for the best back-to-back performance not only because he scored a combined 60 points, but because he scored a whole bunch of those points when it was winning time. He also did it at an era where it’s clear that the world is quickly catching up, even though Team USA still has the overwhelming majority of the top NBA talent. He beat arguably the best player in the league in Nikola Jokic in the semifinals, and then helped cook the potential future of the NBA in Victor Wembanyama in the finals.
As a Sacramento Kings fan, I remember watching Curry’s greatness when he dropped 50 points in Game 7 to send us home crying. Now the entire nations of Serbia and France know the feeling too.
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