“I still got something to do man. I gotta go play for coach Kerr in ’24.” Just a day after winning his fourth title with the Warriors two years ago, Stephen Curry set his eyes on his next goal. Having achieved every accolade in the NBA, there is one hardware that still eludes him at age 36. An Olympic medal.

But on Saturday night, Steph will finally get a chance to check that off his bucket list as Team USA faces France in the gold medal match. Ready for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Baby-Faced Assassin issued a warning for the host nation’s “obnoxious” fans. Since day one of the Paris Olympics, the passionate fans of the French team have packed the arena and boosted the confidence of their men.

Singing the country’s national anthem in unison and booing the opponents every time they touch the ball, they have played the role of a 13 player on the twelve-man squad. And Stephen Curry knows that Saturday’s match at the Bercy Arena is going to be no different, “We know the crowd is going to be loud and obnoxious for them, as they should be.”

Moreover, with the crowd’s support in their favor and coming off two dominant wins over powerhouses Canada and Germany in the previous knockout games, Steph expects Victor Wembanyama and Co. to come prepared for the challenge, “You expect them to play the game of their life because they’re gonna have the home court adrenaline (and) they’re riding big momentum after these last two games.” But having excelled amid adversity his entire career, Steph is also confident in his abilities and warned his opponents, “You’ve got to expect them to play great, but we expect that from ourselves as well.”

While expressing his desire to win an Olympic medal like his fellow Warriors teammates Draymond and Klay, Steph sparked a narrative by saying, “I ain’t good yet.” Two years later, he finally has a shot at ending that narrative and winning gold at the prestigious event. So, he will have to find a way to look past the thousands of opposing fans on Saturday and do what he does best, “We’ve got to be able to handle the emotions of it all.”

Sure enough, he is hoping for his teammates to dig deep and do the same, “I’m sure each one of us can probably think of a building that you’ve gone into in your career, like a hostile environment where nobody likes you and nobody wants to see you. We’ve got to channel that energy and just be ready for whatever happens.”

Can Stephen Curry repeat what he did against Serbia?

“I came into this experience thinking that this would be my one and only time to play in the Olympics and experience this stage.” At 36 years old, Steph knows that he might not get another opportunity to suit up for his nation and win a gold medal at the Olympics. The next time the event takes place in Los Angeles, he will be older than LeBron is right now and will probably have hung his boots by then.

So, while most of his veteran teammates got multiple shots because of making the team at a young age, Steph only has Saturday’s game to determine his Olympic legacy. Maybe, that desperation was what motivated him to dig deep in the semi-final against Serbia when his team was down by 17 points at the half. Although his shots had not been falling in the previous four games, Steph proved why he is the best shooter in the world as he went off for 36 points against Nikola Jokic’s team on nine of fourteen shooting from the three-point line.

More importantly, his scoring outburst along with support from his teammates sparked a historic comeback for Team USA as they won the game 95-91 and booked a spot in the final. And the Warriors superstar believes that the will they showed on Thursday could pay dividends against the wrath of the French fans during the final, “I think last night will help us, having to deal with the adversity at the level that we did.”

Since head coach Vincent Collet has made key changes in the French lineup by benching Rudy Gobert and moving Wemby to play Center, their team has found a new fire. While many expected either Canada or Germany to topple the hosts in the knockout stage, France shocked everyone by eliminating the two biggest threats for Team USA.

Moreover, their semi-final performance against Germany was the first time the reigning World Champions lost in the last thirteen international games. And in a one-and-done scenario, anything can happen as Victor Wembanyama could have a game of a lifetime and upset the Americans. So, to accomplish his dream, Steph might need to put up one more historic performance as he did in the semi-final, and finally add the only missing hardware from his trophy cabinet.

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Asia Avinger