When Stephen Curry catches fire, there's nothing you can do to put it out. France learned that the hard way in the gold medal match of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Curry's fourth-quarter flurry to carry the United States to its fifth consecutive gold medal was more like an avalanche. The greatest shooter of all-time drilled his final four 3-point attempts to put France to bed.
He finished with 24 points on eight 3-pointers, including a few heat checks that were unfathomable, for his lofty standards.
Even Victor Wembanyama's outstretched 8-foot wingspan couldn't disrupt Curry's gamebreaker, resulting in a viral photo that left the internet baffled at the sharpshooter's dead-eye accuracy.
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Stephen Curry-Victor Wembanyama viral photo
France was throwing the kitchen sink at Curry any time he caught the ball beyond the 3-point line, and it just did not matter.
Curry went 8-for-12 from 3-point range in the game, including four big-time triples late in the fourth quarter to secure gold for Team USA.
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One of Curry's 3-pointers was a moonball over 7-4 Wembanyama, who was flailing his 8-foot wingspan to try and disrupt Curry's line of vision any way he could.
Once you see the photo below, it's impossible to believe even Steph could get that shot to fall.
STEPH CURRY WITH THE SHOT OVER WEMBY 👨🍳 pic.twitter.com/PZCe6N0edY
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 10, 2024
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This just shows what type of heater Curry was on over the final two games of the Olympics.
After struggling to find a rhythm in Team USA's first four games, Curry's 36 points and nine 3-pointers charged the United States' semifinal comeback win over Serbia.
He carried that momentum into the gold medal match, where he poured in another 24 points and eight 3-pointers to lead Team USA to the top spot on the podium once again.
Curry only had 24 points while shooting 5-for-20 from 3 in the first four games of the Olympics combined.
In the final two games, he finished with 60 points while shooting 17-for-26 (65.4%) from 3.
Like his gold medal teammate Anthony Edwards said after the win, "My boy only got Paris about three days ago, but we're so glad he got here."
