Curry goes nuclear at the Olympics
The night-night heard around the world.
The Situation
USA vs France. Gold medal game. France has homecourt advantage with a raucous Parisian crowd.
The Stakes
Olympic gold. France is playing for national pride on home soil. The USA hasn't lost an Olympic basketball game since 2004. Curry has never won Olympic gold.
Setting the Scene
The Americans were heavy favorites, but France had the crowd — 15,000 fans in Bercy Arena, the entire nation watching. Victor Wembanyama was France's new hope. LeBron, KD, and Curry had assembled one last time — the old guard making one final run. But this was Curry's tournament. He'd averaged 14.2 PPG through the group stage. Efficient but quiet. Nobody knew what was about to happen in the 4th quarter.
Stephen Curry's Stat Line
24
PTS
1
REB
2
AST
31
MIN
Stephen Curry was 36 years old.
How It Happened
France comes out swinging. Wembanyama blocks two shots. The crowd is deafening. USA leads 20-15 but France is in it.
France believes. The upset is possible.
Evan Fournier hits a three to cut USA lead to 3. The arena is shaking.
Tight game. This isn't a blowout. France smells gold.
France cuts it to 74-69. The crowd is going insane. Timeout USA.
5-point game entering the 4th. France has all the momentum.
Curry hits a step-back three over two defenders from 28 feet. 82-73 USA. He turns and does the Night Night celebration.
The first of the barrage. France is about to learn.
Curry catches, one dribble, fires from 30 feet. BANG. 87-76. Night Night again.
Back to back. From another zip code. The arena gasps.
Curry comes off a screen, catches at the right wing, fires a contested three over Fournier. IN. 90-78. Night Night. Three straight.
Three consecutive three-pointers. In a gold medal game. On enemy soil. Game over. This is the greatest Olympic shooting performance ever.
The Moment
In a span of two minutes, Stephen Curry hit three consecutive three-pointers — from 28 feet, 30 feet, and over a defender — to blow the game open. After each one, he did the Night Night celebration, putting his hands to his cheek like he was putting France to sleep. In their building. In front of their president. It wasn't just shooting — it was a statement. The greatest shooter who ever lived saved his most iconic sequence for the biggest stage he'd ever played on.
The Call
“Curry... from DEEP... BANG! The Night Night! Oh, Stephen Curry is putting on a show in Paris!”
— Noah Eagle, NBC
What They Said
“I've hit big shots before, but doing it on that stage, for your country, with the crowd against you... that's different. That's the top.”
“I looked at the bench after the second one and said: this man is not human. Three straight? In a gold medal game? Come on.”
“Steph did Steph things. When he gets going like that, you just get out the way and watch the show.”
“We were right there. And then Curry did what Curry does. There is no answer for that. Nobody in the world can do what he did.”
By The Numbers
3
Consecutive threes in the 4th
Back-to-back-to-back daggers in the gold medal game
~2 min
Time span of the three 3s
Turned a 5-point lead into an 18-point blowout
~30 ft
Distance of the deepest three
Five feet beyond the NBA three-point line
0
Career Olympic gold medals before this
This was the missing trophy. Now complete.
36
Age
Did this at 36 years old, against the best in the world
3
Night Night celebrations in one game
Putting an entire country to sleep. In their house.
What Happened Next
Curry finished with 24 points. The USA won 98-87. When the final buzzer sounded, Curry — who had won 4 NBA titles, 2 MVPs, and broken every three-point record — finally had the one thing missing from his résumé: Olympic gold. He fell into LeBron's arms. The old guard had one last dance, and Curry wrote the closing act with the coldest shooting display the Olympics had ever seen.
Why It Matters
The Night Night sequence became the viral moment of the 2024 Olympics — the most replayed basketball clip of the year. It gave Curry the one credential he was missing and cemented his legacy as the greatest shooter in the history of any sport. The image of Curry doing the Night Night celebration on French soil became iconic: three straight deep threes, hands to cheek, in an opponent's building, in a gold medal game. It was the coldest thing anyone had ever seen on a basketball court.