LILLE, France — Stephen Curry spent most of his Olympic debut celebrating like it was 2017 or 2018, when he and Kevin Durant led the Golden State Warriors to back-to-back NBA championships.
As Durant kept rising above his defender in the first half Sunday, sinking jump shot after jump shot, Curry kept rising off the bench in exultation. He acted like a teenage fan, giddy to have a front-row seat for Durant’s electrifying show.
“That’s the beauty of this experience — rekindling some old flames with KD, playing with guys I’ve never played with before,” Curry said. “I’m having the time of my life and enjoying every minute of it.”
On the biggest stage in international basketball, in Team USA’s first act of these 2024 Summer Games, Curry receded into the background. He scored 11 points in his inaugural game as an Olympian, while Durant and LeBron James powered the U.S. to a 110-84 victory over Serbia.
Durant, who missed all five games on the Americans’ exhibition tour with an injured calf, provided the “instant impact” James predicted a day earlier. Durant finished with a game-high 23 points, including 21 in the first half on 8-for-8 shooting from the field.
James added 21 points and nine assists. Nikola Jokic led Serbia with 20 points.
Curry made 4 of 8 shots, including 3 of 7 from long range, after starting with a whimper. He threw a lazy inbounds pass toward Jrue Holiday only 18 seconds into the game, and Serbia’s Aleksa Avramovic stole the ball and cruised the other way for an easy layup.
Before long, the U.S. fell behind 10-2. Head coach Steve Kerr called timeout 2:41 into the game — a striking contrast to Dream Team coach Chuck Daly, who didn’t call a timeout during the entire 1992 Olympics.
Curry dribbled free on his team’s first possession after the timeout and lofted a high-arching 3-point shot on what he later called a “broken play.” The ball ripped cleanly through the net for his first Olympic points.
He acknowledged the timeout — during which Kerr admonished him for letting a Serbian player score on a back cut — served as his first Olympic wake-up call.
“It’s human nature to kind of let your imagination get the best of you,” Curry said. “You’re thinking, ‘Oh, we can’t lose this game.’ So that timeout was probably the moment when it’s like, ‘We’re here, settle in, get adjusted to the environment.’
“Thankfully, I hit that shot coming out of the timeout, and then we were off to the races.”
Curry confessed to nerves in the hours ahead of his long-awaited Olympic debut. He walked onto the court at Pierre Mauroy Stadium at 4:25 p.m. local time, 50 minutes before tipoff. Curry revised his customary pregame routine, given Olympic logistics (a full slate of games Sunday in Lille) and restrictions on the number of people allowed on the court pregame.
So after Curry started with his usual two-ball dribbling drill, he and Devin Booker alternated hoisting shots while taking passes from U.S. assistant coach Erik Spoelstra. Curry couldn’t duplicate his typical, detailed routine with Warriors assistant Bruce Fraser.
Curry spent only 15 minutes on the court before retreating to the locker room, then led the parade of U.S. players back onto the court for the game. A handful of No. 30 Warriors jerseys were in the crowd, but they were far outnumbered by Lakers jerseys worn by James fans.
“I had a lot of nerves up until the national anthem,” Curry said. “It’s a really cool environment, obviously sold out to the nosebleed seats. The energy was great. And putting on this jersey at this level, I’ve been looking forward to it for a very long time.”
Curry won gold medals with USA Basketball at the 2010 World Championship and 2014 World Cup, but the Olympics hadn’t worked out until this year. He was worn out in 2016, after a long postseason with the Warriors, and passed on the pandemic-delayed ’21 Games in Tokyo.
Even if he didn’t light up the scoreboard Sunday, Curry still had an impact on the U.S. win. Witness one third-quarter play, when Holiday set a back screen for him — and both Serbian players chased Curry to the corner.
Holiday curled to the basket, took a pass from James and scored on a wide-open layup. No defender was within 5 feet of Holiday.
“LeBron throws it to Jrue for a layup because they’re terrified of Steph,” Kerr said. “The beauty of Steph is he impacts the game whether he makes shots or not.”
Durant and James made more than enough shots for the U.S. to pull away; Durant finished 8-for-9 from the field and James was 9-for-13. Four other players scored in double figures, from Holiday (15) and Booker (12) to Curry and Anthony Edwards (11 each).
Durant’s display counted as especially impressive because he hadn’t played in an official game in exactly three months, since his Phoenix Suns’ season ended April 28.
“I was tired, I’m not gonna lie to you,” Durant said afterward. “My lungs were getting used to the intensity of the game.”
The U.S. cranked up its defensive intensity in the second half, allowing only 35 points after Serbia scored 49 in the first half. Holiday, Anthony Davis and Derrick White were particularly disruptive on defense.
Forward Jayson Tatum, a first-team All-NBA selection the past three seasons, did not play Sunday. Kerr said it’s extraordinarily difficult to use more than 10 players in a 40-minute FIBA game, so Tatum and guard Tyrese Haliburton stayed on the bench.
Kerr said Tatum “will make his mark” on these Olympics, suggesting he probably will play Wednesday against South Sudan.