Stephen Curry spent more than one decade in the NBA, but the Paris Olympics was his first-ever Olympic Games appearance. Despite his extensive experience with the Golden State Warriors, Curry faced significant pressure before their opening game against Team Serbia.
Curry opened up, sharing the excitement and nerves of representing his country on the global stage for the first time.
“I think I had a lot of nerves pre-game up until the national anthem. It’s a really cool environment in there, and obviously it was sold out to the nosebleeds, and the energy was great,” Curry said.
“Putting on this jersey at this level, like you said, I’ve been looking forward to it for a very long time, and I’m just enjoying the moment, so that’s why you see me so animated from the open ceremonies to tonight when I’m on the bench, like I’m loving it, so I want to have something to show for it at the end too,” Curry added.
Although Curry had previously represented Team USA at a senior level during the 2010 and 2014 World Championship tournaments, the Olympics had always eluded him. However, This time, the stars aligned, allowing him to don the Team USA jersey on the grandest stage.
Stephen Curry Focuses on Team Identity After Defeating Serbia
Team USA is coming off a win in their Olympic opener game, defeating Serbia 110-84 on Sunday. The win was not for a team led by NBA star Nikola Jokic. After the win, Stephen Curry, who gave Joel Embiid a new nickname, could not extend his praise for Team Serbia.
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“Serbia is a great team. They run a very intricate offense and very physical defense,” he said.
The Warriors star then focused on Kevin Durant and the team’s plan for the upcoming games. After returning from a calf injury, Durant had an excellent game and ended the opening game, scoring 21 points.
“KD was unbelievable in the first half and gave us a huge boost. And then our defense in the second half opened the game,” he added.
Curry & Co. is highly favored to win gold this year. Given their Olympic opener performance, the prediction seems to be on the horizon. Can they lead Team USA Basketball to another Gold medal? We’ll have to wait for that as it’s just the beginning of the Olympics.
