Stephen Curry saved Team USA on Thursday night in Paris.
The Golden State Warriors star led the United States out of a huge 17-point hole to beat Nikola Jokić and Serbia 95-91 in their semifinals matchup in France. That officially sent the Americans back to the championship game, where they’ll attempt to win a fifth consecutive gold medal on Saturday.
Curry dropped an Olympic career-high 36 points in the win while hitting nine 3-pointers, which is the most any player has hit in a single game throughout the entire Olympics.
Curry went off almost immediately on Thursday, too. He dropped 14 of the first 15 points for the United States and hit his career high not even halfway through the first quarter. He had 17 points at the end of the first period, but the rest of Team USA shot just 1-of-8 from the field combined in the opening 10 minutes.
Serbia took full advantage of that lull, too. They took an 11-point lead at halftime, and kept their double-digit advantage well into the fourth while shutting down every American run.
Finally, it was Joel Embiid that sparked the push Team USA needed. He went on a quick 7-0 run of his own before a blocked shot set up a drive from LeBron James that finally tied the game up.
Curry then hit a huge 3-pointer, his ninth of the night, and then he and James each followed up with a layup to suddenly put the United States up by seven, which was its largest lead of the night at the time and enough to eventually push them to the four-point win.
Embiid finished with 19 points and four rebounds while shooting 8-of-11 from the field to go with Curry’s 36-point outing. James had a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. They were the only three players to hit double figures for Team USA.
Bogdan Bogdanovic led Serbia with 20 points in the loss, which sent them into the bronze medal game against Germany on Saturday. Jokić added 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Aleksa Avramovic finished with 15 points.
France fended off Germany 73-69 in the other semifinal game on Thursday to earn a spot in the gold medal game. Guerschon Yabusele dropped 17 points to lead France, and San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama had 11 points and seven rebounds to lift the French back to the gold medal game for a second consecutive Games. The United States beat France at the Tokyo Olympics to win a fourth straight gold.
Here’s the full player stats from Team USA’s dramatic victory: