This was the worst version of Team USA. Yet, somehow, they woke up

Predicting the last time the seemingly ageless LeBron James does anything in basketball is fraught with danger.

But finally – after 21 seasons in the NBA, 1779 games for Cleveland, Miami and the Lakers, four Olympic campaigns, and a Looney Tunes cameo in between – the first of the lasts of James’ career has finally arrived.

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? 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 in the lead-up to this tournament about the prospect of playing at an Olympics in his own backyard, couldn’t have distanced himself further from the prospect.

“No, I won’t be there,” he said, laughing at the mere thought of playing on in four years. “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 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 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 despite 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.

“It’s up there,” James said when asked where the win sat in his career.

LeBron James on Friday morning.Credit: AP

“I’m 39 years old, going into my 22nd season. I don’t know how many opportunities and moments I’m going to get like this to be able to compete for something, compete for something big and play in big games, and tonight was a big game.”

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 changed again.

James took the court with 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 he amassed in all the previous games this Olympics.

“Steph, man, that was a god-like performance because he felt like he was struggling throughout the whole tournament,” Durant said.

“And we always said, ‘Each night it could be somebody different’. And tonight he showed up. Shot after shot, getting a steal at the end, finishing with the layup. He was everywhere tonight. It was one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen him play.”

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 trailed 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 every time he touched the ball after pledging his allegiance to the US over the host nation, into the contest.

Then, with the game – and their legacies – 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.

“Perseverance, hard work, dedication,” James said to sum up his team’s victory.

They’re the same three words that have been synonymous with James since he made his NBA debut in 2003, about two-and-a-half months before Wembanyama – the man standing between America and another gold medal – was born.

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