PARIS (France) - One year on from the Olympic Gold Medal Game in Paris that was won by USA over France, 98-87, there's one question that needs to be asked.
Should Stephen Curry have been the Paris 2024 MVP instead of LeBron James?
The King claimed his third Olympic gold medal and had a major impact on the Americans' success, just as he had in 2008 and 2012.
He was deserving of this incredible accolade.
But was Curry even more deserving?
The sheer magnitude of his efforts in a come-from-behind Semi-Final triumph over Serbia and in the title game against France were undoubtedly the best of any player at the Games.
They may just have been the most significant, game-winning performances in Olympic history.
Had he not caught fire and had two of the best shooting displays in competition history, it's not too farfetched to say USA would not have won gold. They might have even missed out on the podium.
Turn the clock back to Thursday, August 8, 9PM at Bercy, when the USA walked onto the court to face Serbia for the second time in France. They had had thumped the Serbians in the Group Phase, 110-84.
A different Serbia showed up to play, one that executed plays, made jump shots and came up with timely steals. Defensively, they made the Americans look off balance. Svetislav Pesic's team mixed in a lot of zone with matchup zone and man-to-man, leading to multiple mistakes by the USA when they had the ball.
Steve Kerr's team wasn't sharp at all, and Serbia went in front by as many as 17 points early in the second quarter. They continued to pile the pressure on.
The only reason why the Americans even trailed by 13 points entering the fourth quarter was that Curry had taken over the scoring load, most of it from long range.
He had 20 points before half-time.
USA dug in and finally found some rhythm, ultimately tying the game at 84-84 with 3:39 left.
Curry's 9th three-pointer of the game gave them their first lead since the middle point of the first quarter, before James and Curry both ran out in transition to make it 91-86 with just under two minutes left.
After Bogdan Bogdanovic got an and-one to drop and cut the deficit to two with 56.4 seconds left in the game, Kevin Durant buried a long jumper from inside the arc, which sealed the win.
Curry, who had just attempted 3 shots in the Quarter-Final against Brazil, had a whopping 36 points on 9-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc against Serbia. Incredible!
USA then had to take France's best shot in front of a roaring, partisan crowd and once again, it was Curry who shone brightest. Although Les Bleus' last lead was early in the second quarter, and while USA managed to open up a 14-point lead early in the second half after a pair of Curry 3-pointers, the game always felt tense, with the French capable of going on a run to win it.
And France did go on a run, closing the gap to 72-66 by the end of the third quarter, and then to 82-79 with 3:04 left following Victor Wembanyama's put-back dunk.
Bercy was in raptures. France were making USA pull out all stops.
Curry then came to the rescue.
He knocked down not one, not two, not three, but four massive three-pointers in a span of 132 seconds from the 2:47 mark, pushing the lead to 96-87 in the final minute.
For the second game in a row, Curry, when the opponents threatened to upset the USA, saved his national team. He had 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc.
He was remarkable.
Was he the real MVP, because of the size of the contribution and the timing, when the USA were pushed to the brink?
FIBA and media experts could have easily have chosen Curry, yet instead they went with LeBron.
And there was a strong case for that as well.
There was no player as consistent for the USA last summer.
Even before the Olympics, USA had to rely on the King to save them in a friendly against South Sudan.
The Bright Stars and the Americans squared off at the O2 Arena in London and the latter were +43 point favorites, yet they eked out a 101-100 win with James making a game-winning shot just 8 seconds from the end.
This game had no impact on the standings in the Olympics, yet it was a significant game. Imagine the alarm bells that would have been ringing back in the States had the USA fallen to South Sudan.
Had USA lost, it would have brought a lot of scrutiny and maybe even drawn comparisons to the first Olympic team that James played for in Athens in 2004, when USA crashed to a heavy defeat to Italy in the buildup. Negativity from that result seemed to seep into the USA campaign, and they suffered three defeats in Athens, although did win the bronze medal.
Were it not for James, the USA, who trailed by as many as 16 points, would have fallen to South Sudan. James finished with 25 points, six rebounds and six assists and that game winning bucket.
At the Olympics, James was a model of consistency.
He showed off his amazing passing skills from start to finish and ended up averaging 8.5 assists per game, second only to Nikola Jokic's 8.7 assists per game for Serbia. He had 10 assists in the USA's two toughest games, against Serbia and France.
James also averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. In that humdinger of a game against Serbia, Curry caught the eye but so did James, who had a triple double!
He walked off the court with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Also in that Gold Medal Game classic, James had 14 points, 10 dimes and 6 rebounds.
Add to his performances his legendary leadership in the locker room and on the floor and it's easy to see how James would get a MVP votes.
Again, the question is, should Curry have had even more MVP votes in Paris?
FIBA