The legend of Team USA star Steph Curry was born this summer.
In Thursday’s 95-91 semifinal win over Serbia, Curry helped lead the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team to an epic comeback victory and gave the world some truly iconic, picture-perfect moments in the process.
Curry’s animated postgame celebration with teammate LeBron James already made for one hang-it-in-the-Louvre photo during the instant Olympic classic. But Curry’s dominance in the game was perhaps better characterized by this picture taken by Ezra Shaw of Getty Images, which showed the Golden State Warriors star appear to float mid-air while celebrating his team’s win after the final whistle.
Curry, who dropped an Olympic career-high 36 points, even had his Serbian opponents stunned by his greatness, as captured in this photo from Aytac Unal/Anadolu via Getty Images.
But the best, of course, is saved for last. Curry sank nine of 14 three-point attempts during the game, one shy of tying the all-time Olympic record for most three-pointers made in a game.
During one of Curry’s long-range attempts, photographer Garrett Ellwood took a legendary picture of the All-Star guard releasing his shot while several of his awe-stricken USA teammates reacted in the background. Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards looked up at Curry with faces of pure joy and excitement, Tyrese Haliburton already started bracing himself for the epic moment and Bam Adebayo appeared to make the gesture of shooting ice in his veins in honor of one of the coldest shooters who ever lived.
Here are a few close-up shots of the now-viral moment:
“I just kind of got lost in the moment of understanding how big this stage is and what’s at stake for this team,” Curry said in a postgame interview. “This is the most fun I’ve had in a very long time, to dig deep like we did with this group and get a win, it’s special.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Steph Curry Produced Most Iconic Photos of Olympic Hoops in Team USA Win Over Serbia.