Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
Team USA delivered when the pressure was on everyone.
For LeBron James, Kevin Durant and, especially, Stephen Curry, they had to step up when Serbia was about to step over them on the way to the gold medal. It didn’t look possible, and all that time I was thinking of USA coach Steve Kerr.
It has been a tough Olympics for Kerr, coach of the four-time World Champion Golden State Warriors. Not only was he saddled with substitution decisions that, no matter what he did, drew criticism for who he played and for how long.
The thing about Kerr that I couldn’t get out of my mind was his team was playing not that far from what happened on the darkest day of his life. He was born and grew up in Lebanon, where he attended the American Community School in Beirut before taking his considerable talents to Palisades High School outside of Los Angeles to earn a college scholarship.
His father was president of the American University of Beirut. In 1984, a year after Steve departed for the United States, Malcolm Kerr was shot and killed outside of his office while Steve was a freshman at Arizona. “My life was impenetrable,” he said of his youth. “Bad things happened to other people.”
On July 30, as Kerr was coaching Team USA in Paris, a horrific bombing occurred 2,000 miles away in Beirut as part of the escalating war in the Middle East. I can only imagine what memories that brought up for Kerr and his family. Little wonder why Kerr has been an outspoken proponent of stronger gun laws in this country.
As his Olympic team fell 13 points behind Serbia after three quarters, I wanted Kerrto win more than ever and again Saturday against France for the gold medal. The Americans had won gold in every Olympics since 2004, when they were upset by Argentina in Athens, where there were terrorist threats after 9/11.
But Curry, along with James and Durant, two other of the planet’s greatest players, bailed out Team USA. Curry hit a crucial 3-pointer with 2:24 to cap the rally on his way to 36 points, the American Olympic record for a knockout game.
The 39-year-old James had his second Olympic triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Joel Embiid came off the bench down the stretch, giving the USA four NBA Most Valuable Players with Curry and Durant. And that proved enough to hold off the Denver Nuggets’ three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, 95-91, outscoring Serbia 32-15 in the fourth quarter in a crushing defeat for the team they blew out 12 days before.
“They were perfect,” Kerr said of Serbia. “They played a perfect game.”
It was an incredible performance for both teams on the world stage. And for Steve Kerr, one to remember instead of one to forget.
Featured image via Associated Press/Mark J. Terrill
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines