PARIS — “A Gold Medal in Four Acts,” authored by and starring Wardell Stephen Curry.

Stephen Curry hugged Kevin Durant at midcourt at Bercy Arena. They each had hold of a U.S. flag, that enveloped both of them. They had won back-to-back NBA championships together, when they changed the path of the league by joining forces with the Golden State Warriors. Now, they were celebrating something that only a few people get to do in basketball: win an Olympic gold medal, in another country. And, very few people have had to do it as, essentially, the road team, with a sellout crowd here doing everything in its power to will its beloved French national team to an improbable, titanic upset.

But Curry, simply, would not allow it.

With four 3-pointers in the last three minutes, on four shots, one more ridiculous than the last, with the last defying all common sense and logic, Curry secured the United States’ fifth straight gold medal in men’s Olympic basketball, holding off France, 98-87. It was Durant’s fourth gold medal. His place as the greatest player in U.S. international basketball history is secure. This was Curry’s first gold. At 36, it may well be his only gold. But he wanted this so, so badly, and has wanted it for a long, long time.

“We always say, you do what the game calls for, and what you kind of feel in the flow,” Curry said afterward, after he’d hit eight 3-pointers Saturday, to go with the nine he’d made in the Americans’ incredible come-from-behind victory over Serbia in the semifinals.

LeBron James was a worthy MVP of the tournament. What he did during this fortnight, at age 39, is simply beyond description. But Curry was the indispensable man the last two games, when the medals were on the line. That he did it after not shooting well at all during group play is just part of the Curry legend.

“Coach (Steve Kerr) reminded me, at a certain point, early, the game will come to you if you allow it,” Curry said. “And even if I was missing shots, just stay engaged. And that kind of fed into being locked in for these last two games, because the game called for me to get shots up, and knock them down. … you just stay confident, stay present, and don’t get rattled by the moment.”

There was a reason Curry was so excited — “like a little kid,” USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill said back in April — when he was formally invited to play for USA Basketball, after being injured in 2016, and opting not to play in Japan in 2021. There was no doubt, once James and Durant committed again to playing for their country, that Curry would join them.

“And I had two extra months to practice,” Curry said, referring to the Warriors not making the playoffs this past season.

The Americans had the upper hand for most of the game Saturday. But a sloppy end of the third quarter, with more miscues in the fourth, and the ravenous home crowd keeping the energy up, gave France an opening. And they took advantage. They cut a 13-point deficit early in the third quarter to six by that quarter’s end. Then, five, with 3:32 left. Then, three, on Victor Wembanyama’s offensive rebound dunk with 3:04 remaining. Bercy was berserk. The impossible dream, of avenging their 2021 loss to the U.S. in Tokyo, was within their sights.

“Down the stretch, Steph took over,” Kerr said. “He actually suggested in the timeout, ‘Let me run a clear side pick and roll with LeBron and we’ll clear the floor.’ I said OK, because I’ve seen this before, and it usually turns out well.”

Act I

USA 82, France 79, 3:04 remaining

Curry shot-fakes France’s Guerschon Yabusele, then rises right of the key from 26 feet, and, with Yabusele’s hands at his sides, drains a 3 to put the U.S. team back up by six. He gives the French fans the palms-down, calm-yourselves-down treatment on the way back up the court.

CURRY TIME. 🥶

A huge three to shift the momentum late. #ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/kDSOCr9bao

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024

“Steph earned this, the last few weeks,” Kerr said. “The last couple of weeks, every day, the work ethic. I tell people all the time, when Kevin was with our team, my favorite part of practice with the Warriors was after practice, watching these two work. It’s not an accident that they’re able to do what they’re able to do down the stretch of games. The work, just watching these two guys, day after day after day, is really impressive. I’ve talked about LeBron, during this experience as well. When you see these guys behind the scenes, and how hard they work, how much they love the process of the work itself, it all makes sense that they’re as good as they are.”

Act II 

USA 87, France 81, 2:10 remaining

This time, Curry shot-fakes Nicolas Batum, then steps to the side from 27 feet. “Bang,” as Mike Breen would say. As he runs back up court, Curry points to his chest and says something to the U.S. bench. It appeared he was saying, “They can’t guard me!” Maybe he said, “They can’t (bleeping) guard me!’”(Although, Curry doesn’t cuss much at all, really.) At any rate, it’s becoming clear that he’s correct, and the French can’t (bleeping) guard him.

Intermission

In which various Olympic teammates talk about the greatest shooter in NBA history …

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers: “I’ve seen it before. Different uniform, though.”

Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns: “Out of body experience.”

Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves: “I was able to witness greatness. … Watching Steph? Hey, I was just telling him, ‘Boy, you crazy, bro.’ Shorty went crazy. I ain’t got nothing to say about it. He is who he is, you feel me?”

Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat: “I was kind of like, ‘What the f—?’ But, then I had to remember who was shooting it. And we’ve all seen him do incredible things like that.”

Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers: “Like I said, it’s fun to be on (his) side. Big shots after big shots. And the level of difficulty of those shots, and the moment, it was tremendous.”

Act III

USA 90, France 84, 1:43 remaining

This time, it’s Nando de Colo in the crockpot. Curry, shot fake, pulls up … you know how this goes by now, right?

Cooked de Colo.

The U.S. is back up nine, with 1:18 to go. And Curry starts screaming — a primordial type of yell, that “Og,” living in Spain’s Atapuerca Mountains, may have screamed when the rocks he had been rubbing together for a week finally flinted, and there was fire, and Og could finally cook the mastodon he’d killed a week ago. Or, it could be the yell of a 36-year-old man who’d desperately wanted to be an Olympian for so long, and hadn’t been able to, but was finally doing so in the most amazing way possible in what will likely be the last two games of his Olympic career.

Act IV

USA 93, France 87, 0:55 remaining

France, a smart, veteran team, coached by a legend in Vincent Collet, now double-teams Curry, sending both Batum and Evan Fournier at him off the pick and roll. They’re “blitzing” him, in NBA parlance, trying to make him pass the ball to someone else. In addition, the shot clock, now the size of a small hovercraft placed on Curry’s back, was ticking down toward zero. But Curry goes behind his back, takes a dribble right of the key, and lets it fly, over both Batum’s and Fournier’s outstretched arms, from somewhere near Nice.

Splash.

“THE GOLDEN DAGGER!”

Steph Curry that is utterly ridiculous. 🤯#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/8hIN8tgmfK

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— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024

“Every shot you take, you think it’s going in,” Curry said. “That was at the end of a solid flurry of shots,” Curry said. “At the end of the day, all I saw was the rim. I didn’t see who was in front of me. I knew it was kind of a late-clock situation. That impressed me. I impressed myself, for sure. For sure.”

And he gave a whole nation the night-night, as he ran back up the floor. Good effort, France, good effort.

“Honestly, I told him, ‘No way you making that,’” Edwards said. “‘Cause he threw it up high. But, he cold. He cold.”

An aside: A France team with Nolan Traoré, a near-lock to be a top-five pick in the 2025 NBA draft after playing next season for the French team Saint-Quentin, running the point in 2028 for France in Los Angeles, with Wemby and Rudy Gobert and Bilal Coulibaly and Yabusele, and maybe Alexandre Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher and Tidjane Salaun by then … well, let’s just say that would be a hell of a rematch between the U.S. and Les Bleus. And if Embiid pulled an ultimate Heel Turn, a la Hogan at Bash at the Beach in ’96, and decided to play for France? Sacré Bleu!

Will Curry be in Los Angeles, at 40? I mean, Durant didn’t rule it out when asked, and he’s been playing for USA Basketball for 14 years. Who knows what Chef Curry can cook up next?

“It’s everything I imagined, and more,” Curry said of this, his first Olympic experience. “We all signed up for this mission, to continue USA Basketball’s dominance. Obviously, I understood it was going to be a really tough task, with some great teams that we were going to face. It’s a sense of relief, at the end, but it’s more like a sense of accomplishment, obviously knowing what we were able to do. I’ve seen the medal ceremonies at other events. I’ve seen (Durant) get all three of his. I’ve watched it and envisioned what it would feel like. It wasn’t really like knocking something off of my resume, it was more ’cause I haven’t experienced it yet, and not knowing what it was going to be like. … Everything was eye-opening, from start to finish.”

(Top photo of Stephen Curry: Christina Pahnke – sampics / Getty Images)

Indianapolis Colts star running back Jonathan Taylor was among the players wearing Guardian Caps during the team’s preseason game against the Denver Broncos.

The Guardian Cap is protective headgear that is worn around the helmet to help prevent head injuries. Taylor, Zavier Scott, Kylen Granson, Rodney Thomas II and Grant Stuard decided to wear it for the game on Sunday, months after the NFL approved players to wear it in regular-season games if they choose.

“We now have two years of data showing significant concussion reductions among players who wear Guardian Caps during practice so players will be permitted to wear the cap during games this upcoming season,” NFL executive Jeff Miller, the EVP overseeing player health and safety, said in a statement in April.

“Additionally, there are new helmets this year that provide as much – if not more – protection than a different helmet model paired with a Guardian Cap. These developments represent substantial progress in our efforts to make the game safer for players.”

BRONCOS ROOKIE BO NIX OUTPERFORMS VETERAN QBS IN PRESEASON DEBUT

Indianapolis Colts’ Anthony Richardson, left, hands off the ball to Jonathan Taylor during the first half of the preseason game against the Denver Broncos at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Aug. 11, 2024. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

The Guardian Caps were introduced during training camp before the start of the 2022 season. They were made mandatory at preseason practices in 2023 as well as any regular-season or playoff practice that featured contact.

Only quarterbacks, wide receivers, defensive backs, kickers and punters are not obliged to wear the piece of protection.

Scott told the Indy Star why he decided to wear the cap.

“Our [medical and equipment] guys here do a great job of keeping us informed,” Scott said. “They’ve done the testing, and I don’t know the numbers, but they say it [offers] a significant reduction in concussions.”

Indianapolis Colts’ wide receiver Laquon Treadwell (7) and running back Zavier Scott (34) celebrate a touchdown during the second half of the preseason game against the Denver Broncos at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Aug. 11, 2024. (Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images)

Denver won the game, 34-30.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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PARIS — When the final whistle came, mercifully, Crystal Dunn collapsed forward onto her knees and pounded her fists into the grass. The bench emptied onto the field, the stadium — fans long eager, and waiting, for a fifth Olympic gold medal — erupted. But in that moment, Dunn was alone and thinking of her own journey to this point.

“You think about all the sacrifices you made,” she said. “Yeah, this game is hard but it’s not just this game. It’s everything you went through. It’s the whole tournament, the buildup.”

For Dunn, it’s not just the buildup of the last year after this program went through a historically disastrous early departure from the 2023 World Cup. It’s not just the last three months, when new head coach Emma Hayes was finally installed at the helm of the U.S. women’s national team program. For Dunn, the player who has the longest history with the senior national team, it’s everything she has gone through since 2013. The rosters she made, the rosters she didn’t. The tournaments they won, and more often, the tournaments they didn’t. The highs and lows. The injuries. The comebacks. All of it.

And on Saturday evening in Parc des Princes — sacrifices and buildup behind her, a 1-0 win against Brazil on the scoreboard, 106 minutes under her weary legs — Dunn finally stood atop an Olympic podium, a gold medal across her chest.

As the team waited to be honored, they talked amongst themselves: What should they do when they stand up there? They should do something as a team, right? Not just step up there and stand? The Germans were introduced as bronze medalists. Then the Brazilians with the same treatment for silver. Finally, 12 minutes and much discussion later, the gold medalists were asked to take the podium. The Americans held hands, threw them into the air and took a bow. It wasn’t quite in unison, a subtle and fitting reminder that this is a team and group of players that isn’t necessarily practiced in the act of standing on podiums and accepting medals. They turned and waved to the fans behind them and then back to the front where their names were being read. One by one, the players had the gold medals awarded.

Off to the left, Hayes stood and watched. The field was finally fully shaded from the sun that had scorched it all day and Hayes, in her black suit, couldn’t take her eyes off her team.

Seventy-nine days ago, she named this Olympic roster. Seventy-two days ago she had her first Olympic practice. And now, they were back on the podium, a space that had eluded more experienced, more cohesive, more famous American rosters than the one she had put together. But none of those teams, since 2012, had finished the job like this team.

She raised her fist to her team.

That American women’s soccer being back here is perhaps not a surprise to anyone. But that it was this group, this coach, and most impressively, this fast is nothing short of incredible. In Hayes’ 10th game leading the group, they are Olympic champs once again.

The last time the Americans stood atop the Olympic podium — at the London Games in 2012 — there was no NWSL in the United States. Women’s Professional Soccer, the most recent league in the states, had announced its suspension eight months earlier. The team’s youngest member — 19-year-old Jaedyn Shaw — had just finished kindergarten. Captain Lindsay Horan had just opted to forgo her college career, a rare decision for American women at that point, to sign with Paris Saint Germain. And Hayes, during that Olympic break, had been named the new manager for Chelsea Women.

A year and four days before this team reclaimed Olympic gold, the Americans had their earliest exit in any international tournament ever — a round of 16 loss to Sweden on penalty kicks in the World Cup. After the game, Horan said the team didn’t get the best out of each individual. They weren’t fully prepared, players were tense and “just not enjoying their football or they weren’t enjoying individually playing,” she said on “The RE-CAP Show” last year.

A year after their World Cup heartbreak, the USWNT has shown how far they’ve come. (Photo by Quinn Rooney, Getty Images)

Then Megan Rapinoe retired, as did Julie Ertz. Two rocks of the national team were gone. When Hayes announced her Olympic roster last month, it didn’t include other cornerstones of the team; neither Alex Morgan nor Becky Sauerbrunn made the cut. The group was turning over, and the 18-player roster included just three players — Dunn, Alyssa Naeher and Rose Lavelle — who had previously appeared in a major tournament final. Those three helped lift the U.S. to a 2019 World Cup win.

Amid the major tournament victory drought that followed, they were criticized. They went through three head coaching changes, which led to more criticisms. And when Hayes entered, the players said they began to play with and exude more joy. They have been criticized even for that.

“This team has gone through a lot,” Trinity Rodman said. “Different coaches, losses, just off the field stuff. And to be here right now — such a great group, such a great coach. I’m just in awe of how hard everyone’s worked to get here.”

Rodman, 22, was one of the youngest to be named to this final roster and a part of the three-headed scoring machine along with Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson — nicknamed “Triple Espresso” — who re-sparked an offensive energy that the USWNT had missed in recent iterations. The trio scored or assisted on 11 of the team’s 12 goals in the Olympics with each taking their turn to star in the knockout rounds.

First, it was Rodman in extra time against Japan in the quarterfinals. Smith was next in extra time against Germany in the semifinals. Finally, it was Swanson in the finals. In the first half, she had a chance and didn’t capitalize, so when the perfect ball came through in the 57th minute she screamed to Smith (who was offsides) to get out of the way. (“It was scary,” Smith joked, “I didn’t see her coming until she shouted”).

Rodman had told herself she wouldn’t cry if they won, and she broke that promise almost immediately. She said she was mostly just so happy for everyone else — for Naeher, who despite her incredible play, often goes overlooked because of her quiet nature; for Swanson, who 18 months ago suffered an injury that kept her out of commission for 11 months, including the World Cup; for Naomi Girma, whose steadiness on the backline has made everyone else look better for the entire journey.

It was tears of joy for the U.S. after defeating Brazil in the Olympic final. (Photo by John Todd, Getty Images)

They cried. They cheered. They hugged one another and Hayes. They outran even their own security to bullrush their families in the front row of the stadium.

The American women are champions once again. In journeys both long and short, in struggles both made known and kept hidden, they made it to the top of the Olympic podium.

“I always believe this team can do absolutely anything,” Dunn said. “If we are at our best, if we are clicking, if all things are firing on all cylinders, I truly believe this team can be unstoppable, but it’s not easy. It’s about showing up every day and really believing in the system and believing in the players.”

When they all stood on top of the podium, gold medals in tow, they danced and laughed. Perhaps some did not see them landing here, did not see this kind of turnaround. But they’re here now on a journey that is entirely and uniquely, and joyfully, their own.

(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)