

On Aug. 8, the U.S. men’s basketball team faced Serbia with a trip to the gold medal game at the Summer Olympics on the line. After winning the first meeting with ease, the United States needed all 40 minutes to win 95–91 and advance to play for the gold medal.
Stephen Curry hadn’t asserted himself much early in the tournament, but he came out of the gates firing in the semifinal. He scored the first five points for the United States and had 14 points in the first four minutes of the game. Unfortunately for Team USA, all five Serbian starters were on the board, while Curry had 14 of 15 total points at the mid-point of the first quarter.
Curry was the last American starter to check out of the game, heading to the bench with 1:42 left in the first quarter. At that point, he had 17 of the USA’s 23 points. And the United States trailed by four.