underlined a dominant campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by beating hosts France 98-87 in Saturday’s final. It brought up a fifth consecutive gold medal for the United States and the country’s 17th in total.

Along the way, there were overwhelming group stage victories against Serbia (110-84), South Sudan (96-85) and Puerto Rico 104-83.

In the quarter-finals they defeated Brazil 122-87, then staged an epic comeback to beat Serbia again (95-91), with NBA stars LeBron James and Stephen Curry right at the very top of their game.

But the forward had limited playing time, and was even on the bench for two of the team’s games. He spoke about the low key role he was given at the Games.

“A lot of people texted me and reached out and were like, ‘Make sure this fuels you,’ which I appreciate,” Tatum told the Boston Globe. “There’s a lot of people that care about me. But I think the tough part is, yes, you can use things to fuel you, but, you know, I’m still human, and it’s still a human aspect, part of being in the moment. I sacrificed and put a lot into this game and worked really, really hard,”.

He added, “So, you know, in the moment it’s tough, so I’m not necessarily worried about fueling me for November or whatever the season is. But like I said, it’s something I’m going to take away from this and learn and from this experience, definitely challenging and humbling at the same time. I had fun – I did. It was a great team of guys to be around, we went to some great cities and different countries, and we won the gold medal.”

triumphed at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the journey wasn’t without its share of controversies, particularly surrounding player rotations. One of the more surprising outcomes was the limited playing time given to Jayson Tatum, who had just led the Boston Celtics to an NBA Championship.

Tatum’s reduced role didn’t go unnoticed by fans or the player himself. Recently, the 26-year-old took to Instagram to highlight a tweet from rapper Vince Staples, who, after watching Tatum spend much of the Olympics on the bench, wrote, “WE WILL AVENGE JAYSON TATUM.”

Aytac Unal/Anadolu via Getty Images

Stephen Curry Posts ‘Avengers Unite!’ Photos with LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, More

Timothy Rapp

August 11, 2024

Stephen Curry was the hero of the United States’ 98-87 win over France in the gold medal game on Saturday, hitting eight threes in total and four in a ridiculous fourth-quarter stretch that helped the Americans seal the win.

After the contest, who posed for his first-ever gold medal with LeBron James, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton:

Curry also had fun with a few of his teammates after the game:

There may not have been a gold for the men were it not for Curry, who also scored 36 points and hit nine three-pointers in a semifinals comeback win over Serbia.

“Before every shot you take, you think it’s going in,” he told reporters Saturday. “All I saw was the rim. I didn’t see who was in front of me. I knew it was kind of a late clock situation, but that one impressed myself.”

“I’ve seen that from Steph a few times but it never gets old,” Team USA head coach Steve Kerr added. “It’s a global game with a lot of great players, but we still feel we have the greatest players.”

For Curry, who participated at his first and likely last Olympics, it was an experience he won’t soon forget.

“It’s everything I imagined, and more,” he told reporters regarding his first Olympics experience. “We all signed up for this mission, to continue USA Basketball’s dominance. Obviously, I understood it was going to be a really tough task, with some great teams that we were going to face. It’s a sense of relief, at the end, but it’s more like a sense of accomplishment, obviously knowing what we were able to do.”

But the forward had limited playing time, and was even on the bench for two of the team’s games. He spoke about the low key role he was given at the Games.

“A lot of people texted me and reached out and were like, ‘Make sure this fuels you,’ which I appreciate,” Tatum told the Boston Globe. “There’s a lot of people that care about me. But I think the tough part is, yes, you can use things to fuel you, but, you know, I’m still human, and it’s still a human aspect, part of being in the moment. I sacrificed and put a lot into this game and worked really, really hard,”.

He added, “So, you know, in the moment it’s tough, so I’m not necessarily worried about fueling me for November or whatever the season is. But like I said, it’s something I’m going to take away from this and learn and from this experience, definitely challenging and humbling at the same time. I had fun – I did. It was a great team of guys to be around, we went to some great cities and different countries, and we won the gold medal.”