Predicting the last time the seemingly ageless LeBron James does anything in the sport of basketball is always fraught with danger.
But finally – after 21 seasons in the NBA, 1779 games for Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles, four Olympic campaigns, and a cameo with the Looney Tunes in between – the first of the lasts of James’ career has finally arrived.
LeBron James in action against Serbia in the men’s semi-final on Friday morning.Credit: AP
With a come-from-behind victory over Serbia in Friday morning’s (AEST) semi-final in Paris, James booked his team’s passage into the gold-medal match. His last match for Team USA in his last shot at Olympic glory.
But what about Los Angeles in 2028? Well, you wouldn’t put it past him, especially after he recently signed a two-year extension with the Lakers.
But the man himself, when asked about the prospect of an Olympics game in his own backyard in the lead-up to this tournament, couldn’t have distanced himself further from that prospect.
“No, I won’t be there,” he said, laughing at the mere thought of playing on in four years’ time. “I’m getting the hell out of that city when the Olympics come to Los Angeles.”
Steph Curry during the United States semi-final against Serbia.Credit: Getty Images
And so it begins. The first of the lasts. A gold-medal showdown – a rematch of the 2001 Tokyo final – against the home nation France in their own backyard in front of 15,000 screaming fans, who had urged Victor Wembanyama’s team to a 73-69 semi-final victory over Germany earlier in the morning.
If it wasn’t for James – and his partner-in-crime Steph Curry – arguably the greatest American team assembled since Michael Jordan’s Dream Team in 1992 would have been bundled out and left to scrap for bronze with a gold-standard roster.
James produced a triple double (16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists), combining with Curry (36 points) to produce a masterclass in clutch basketball and mastermind the Americans’ great escape.
Serbia went into the final quarter with a 13-point advantage. Six minutes and 21 seconds later, the scores were level courtesy of a barnstorming James drive to the basket. A minute later, James dished it off to an open Curry for the three. The lead never swung again.
James took the court wearing a bandage over his left eye after wearing an elbow to the head in the previous game against Brazil that forced him from the court. The blows came thick and fast in the opening two quarters against Serbia, too.
Curry, who missed an uncharacteristically high number of deep shots in the warm-up, netted 14 of America’s first 15 points, finishing the first quarter with 17 points and an assist to his name from the eight minutes on court.
He closed out the game with 36 points, more than doubling the 29 points he amassed in all the previous games this Olympics.
While he was red-hot from beyond the arc to start the match, his teammates struggled to trouble the scorers, with the rest – other than James – combining for a woeful five baskets from 21 from the field in the opening half.
The Americans found themselves trailing by 17 points at one stage before James took the game into his own hands.
He brought a previously underwhelming Joel Embiid, who was booed by the French crowd for pledging his allegiance to the US over the host nation every time he touched the ball, into the contest.
Then, with the game – and their legacies – hanging in the balance, Curry and James took control to ensure the US would avoid their seventh Olympics loss in 88 years and progress to their 17th gold-medal match in 20 campaigns.
