A still frame became iconic when Team USA beat Serbia in the Olympic semifinal. Emotions and passion were free-flowing as Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry, the three horsemen of the ‘Avengers’ came together. The best team on the planet had just completed a 13-point turnaround in the fourth quarter to escape embarrassment at the hands of their rivals. For basketball fans though, the game was among the greatest spectacles.

A “God-like” Curry splashed nine triples and swooned his former teammate, KD. “It was one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen him play,” the Suns forward claimed. James notched up a historic triple-double and showed resilience in the fourth quarter. Those ten minutes were poetry and it forced Austin Reaves, an ardent golf lover to abandon his interests.

“I stopped on the side of the road in the middle of traffic watched the game,” the Lakers guard revealed after practice. It was that type of performance from the USA contingent. The culmination of the best players displayed selflessness and symphony. They restricted the successful Serbian offense to just 15 points in the final spell and attacked with ruthlessness and synergy.

“The Serbia game, the fourth quarter was some of the best basketball I have ever watched. Everybody was locked in defensively,” Reaves further expanded. The key weapon without question was Stephen Curry, who lit up the night with 36 points to drown Serbia. But it was also a universal objective that was given priority. The efforts that Reaves saw from the USA to win he felt were “beautiful” and the fourth quarter, in particular, to be “perfect”. 

The semifinal was a story of retribution for Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid

For many reasons, the Serbia-USA clash had fans gluing their eyes to the screen. For the entire tournament, two of the elite starters for Team USA couldn’t find their rhythm. Curry hadn’t hit more than three triples in a game pbefore that contest. Still, he kept uplifting himself, saying “I know a flurry is coming,”.

On the other hand, Embiid went through an entirely different challenge. Not only was he struggling to impose his usual dominance, but due to his decision to play for the USA over France, the crowd was always hostile. He battled through incessant heckling and jarring reactions from the audience. And then he finally embraced it, urging fans to continue their punishment.

Against Serbia, when the tide didn’t flow their way, Curry and Embiid took matters into their own hands.

The 76ers center, a long-touted rival of Nikola Jokic showed finesse. He scored 19 points on 8-11 shooting and was defensively vigilant all game long. Curry on the other hand was the marksman who ensured the lead never boiled out of hand. He scored 17 of the first 23 USA points and never looked back from there.

As much as LeBron James controlled the game with his well-balanced triple-double, he didn’t think twice when naming the protagonists of their famous win. The Akron Hammer named “Perseverance, hard work dedication, Chef Curry and Joel ‘Process’ Embiid,” as the reasons behind their fight back.

Following the hard-fought win, the star-powered Team USA left the arena with the utmost confidence. They blew through the hosts France, despite an enlightening performance from Victor Wembanyama. Once again though, Curry hit his ‘night night’ and achieved the ultimate redemption in his debut Olympics.

A story for the ages indeed.