Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry played out of his mind in Saturday’s gold medal game at the 2024 Paris Olympics and now a former Cleveland Cavaliers guard has dubbed Curry the best player ever.
Brandon Goodwin, who had a brief stint with the Cavs during the 2021-22 NBA regular season, took to social media to celebrate Curry’s incredible championship performance.
Curry the best player ever
— Brandon Goodwin (@goodysav) August 10, 2024
Goodwin was far from the only basketball player inspired by Curry’s performance in the final two games of Team USA’s Olympic journey.
In the first four games of the Paris Games, Curry reached a double-digit point total just once. However, in the semifinal and championship rounds, Curry’s game took off.
In the semis versus a tough Serbia team, Curry dropped 36 points and went 9-of-14 from the three-point line. It turned out that Team USA needed every single one of those points as it had to come back from a double-digit deficit to start the fourth quarter and snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.
In the championship round, Curry and Team USA couldn’t put France away. While Team USA led for nearly the entire game, France managed to pull within three points with just a few minutes left to go.
It was then that Curry turned on the flamethrower from deep to ice the competition. The four-time NBA champion ended up hitting four 3-pointers within the last three minutes of the game.
It was likely that stretch of play that inspired Goodwin to publish his post on X.com.
With Team USA’s mission accomplished and over, players and fans alike will surely remember it as one of the more exciting gold medal runs in recent memory.
In previous Olympic competitions, Team USA was so dominant that many of their games seemed decided by the early minutes. However, in the Paris Games, multiple games that Team USA played came down to the wire and were highly nerve-wracking and entertaining.
It’s a sign of how much the game of basketball has evolved into a world game over the last decade. Many of the NBA’s biggest stars played for rival countries.
Curry has helped increase the popularity of basketball throughout his NBA career. His NBA legacy has been cemented for quite some time. Now, his Olympic legacy is cemented as well.
