Stephen Curry has never played in an Olympic Games as a member of the U.S. national basketball team, but he seemed poised to lead the United States to the big stage this summer in Paris.
The Golden State Warriors' star point guard had an outstanding performance on Wednesday, recording 12 points and three assists in the United States' 86-72 win over Canada.
Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 13 points, while LeBron James (7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) and Anthony Davis (10 points, 11 rebounds) also had strong performances for the USA.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (10) and RJ Barrett (12) led Canada.
But after a slow start, the U.S. dominated and fans and pundits alike were impressed, especially with the trio of Curry, James and AD.
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid's Team USA debut wasn't much better: He fouled out and finished with five points, six rebounds, four turnovers and just 2-of-5 field goals in 12 minutes.
Overall, the entire team, not just Embiid, will need to knock off some rust, and coach Steve Kerr will likely experiment with different lineups and combinations to make the most of the vast amount of talent he has at his disposal.
James believes the team is on the right track.
“We know we're much better. [then what we showed]”But we've only played together four days,” he said after the game. “We're going to work on our mistakes offensively, but if we play well defensively we have a good chance to win every night.”
“We just want to win a gold medal, whatever it takes to get there,” Curry added. “We always say that no matter what the results are, no matter how many minutes we play, as long as everyone on the court is committed to doing what's asked of them, it's going to be okay.”
Given the talent at hand, if the U.S. can come together as a cohesive team, no team in the world will be able to stop them.
