As a spectator or anyone on the sidelines, watching Stephen Curry at the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal game was a thrilling experience. But losing a gold medal game at home due to his masterclass was a disappointing sight for Team France and their fans.
Rudy Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, recently spoke about what it was like to face Stephen Curry in the gold medal game and lose due to his ‘greatness.’
“I wasn’t on the court at that time. I wish I had been on the floor at that moment. But you can only… Obviously, the competitor in you is frustrated at that moment. But very quickly, you can feel grateful to be able to witness and live such greatness,” said Gobert on the Young Man and the Three podcast.
“When you witness such plays and efforts, you know you can only tip your hat. You don’t want to be turned into a fan, but also, you want to be like, ‘this is one of the greatest to ever do it.”
But interestingly, Gobert does not credit Curry’s fourth-quarter explosion for winning the game for Team USA. He felt the game was lost even before he started going off. Yet he still gave Curry his flowers.
“And this is one of those moments when I don’t think we lose the game there. We lost the game before. But when that happens, you can only tip your hat.”
Stephen Curry led all scorers for Team USA in the gold medal game against France, where they won 98-87. He had 24 points, while Devin Booker and Kevin Durant had 15 points each, and LeBron James had 14 points.
In the fourth quarter, Curry scored 11 of his 24 points, including three crucial three-point shots to take the game beyond France’s reach. It felt like Curry delivered on every clutch shot in that quarter, despite him going four of six from the field.
Gobert had injured his finger in the quarter final against Canada and hence played limited minutes in the Gold Medal game. He played for 12 minutes in the game and had two points, three rebounds, and one assist.
While he wasn’t on the court for Curry’s fourth-quarter explosion, he witnessed it from the bench and could do nothing except feel the frustration and helplessness of witnessing the Warriors’ superstar dismantle his team.
Rudy Gobert Says NBA Has Become More Competitive
In the same interview, the Timberwolves’ center spoke about how the NBA has become a lot more competitive now than it was back when he was drafted to the NBA.
“The league has never been so open… there’s probably about ten teams that you can say ‘Ok, they can go to the [NBA] Finals.’ Before, there were maybe four to six. Like the last few years, it has been eight or ten, but before that it was only four to six.”
“So I think it’s fun. It’s great for the game, it’s great for the NBA…. There’s not a single game you play now and think it’s going to be easy.”
With the dissipation of the trend of super teams in the NBA, there seems to be a lot more equitable distribution of talent across the league, which has made the atmosphere more conducive to competition.
Following 2019, the same team hasn’t won two championships back-to-back, and the Eastern Conference has sent a new team to the Finals every year since LeBron James left the Cavaliers. Therefore, in terms of competition, the NBA seems to be heading in the right direction.
