Former UK stars Davis, Booker and Adebayo help Team USA secure 5th straight gold medal
Stephen Curry poured in 24 points as the United States grabbed the gold medal in the men’s basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics with a 98-87 victory against France on Saturday.
Former University of Kentucky basketball stars Devin Booker, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo were on the Team USA squad and each earned the second gold medal of their respective careers.
The Americans also downed the French in the finals at the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Team USA has now taken home golds at each of the past five Olympics.
France was knocking on the door late, as a putback from Victor Wembanyama cut its deficit to 82-79 with 2:58 remaining in regulation.
Curry stemmed the tide, though, drilling three triples in a span of 1:34 to give the U.S. a 93-84 cushion with 1:14 left.
Then, with just 35 seconds to go, Curry sent a high-arcing trey over a double team that found the bottom of the net, putting Team USA up by nine while silencing the home crowd.
All of Curry’s points came from distance, as the Golden State Warriors star went 8-for-13 from beyond the arc. Kevin Durant and Booker each had 15 points for the Americans, who also got 14 from LeBron James.
James also had six rebounds and 10 assists.
Wembanyama poured in a game-high 26 points and hauled in seven boards. Guerschon Yabusele supplied 20 points as the French were outshot 53.7% to 47.2% from the field.
Davis scored eight points and led the United States in rebounds with nine and blocked shots with four. Six of his rebounds were on the offensive end. Booker also had six rebounds and three assists. Adebayo had two points and one rebound.
Booker was plus-18 in the gold medal game, and plus-76 overall for the Olympics.
“Devin was incredible. He completely changed his role from the NBA to now,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said in a report by ESPN. “He was kind of our unsung MVP.”
The Americans reached the gold medal game after rallying from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Serbia in Thursday’s semifinals.
The Serbians responded with a 93-83 win over Germany in Saturday’s bronze medal game. Nikola Jokic propelled Serbia with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the win.
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