34 to go.

Embiid then made another basket and, on Serbia’s next possession, blocked a shot, and the U.

S.

trailed only 84-82.

Again, a three-point possibility for Serbia.

Again, a miss for Vasilije Micic, who played last season in Charlotte.

LeBron tied the game with one of those unstoppable drives that only he can do and it was 84-84.

Tie game.

Three minutes and 41 seconds to go.

Curry hit a three—one of nine in the game for him—and with 2:07 to play, it was 87-86 for the Americans.

They would not relinquish the lead after that.

Then the best of the U.

S.

, the best players of this generation, almost any generation, went to work in tandem.

A LeBron basket.

A Curry steal and basket.

A Durant-created jumper.

And then Jokic scored to make it 93-91.

I’ve never written a basketball story this way, with this much play-by-play and back and forth.

But every moment here mattered.

Every decision was enormous.

Every shot had implications.

You watch it unfold and try to take it all in and you can and cannot believe exactly what you’re seeing when you’re seeing it.

And all the while, Curry was smiling, like he knows he’s in charge, his mouthguard dangling as usual, part of him cocky, part of him fully comprehending just how great he can be.

In the final five minutes, Team USA outscored Serbia 18-7.

Curry had seven of those points.

Embiid had five.

LeBron had four, Durant two.

At one time, Serbia led by 17 and while Jokic may have scored only 17 points, the entire offense worked with him and around him.

“They played a perfect game,” said Kerr.

“And they forced us to reach the highest level of competition that we could find.

” Some talked afterwards about a Villanova college game against North Carolina and another one between Villanova and Georgetown.

I have no basis of comparison.

I don’t know if I’d ever seen anything better than Kawhi Leonard play 52 minutes on a bad leg against Milwaukee in a playoff series and score 36 points in a double-overtime win that saved the Raptors’ championship season.