Bennett Durando is the Denver Nuggets beat writer for The Denver Post. Before moving to Colorado, where he started as The Post's Avalanche beat writer, he covered SEC football, basketball and other sports for five years: first reporting on his alma mater, Missouri, for the St.
Serbia’s Nikola Jokic, center, challenges USA’s Steph Curry, right, in the men’s preliminary round group C basketball match between Serbia and USA during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, northern France, on July 28, 2024. LILLE, France — Bewilderment set in within minutes after the opening tip. I had never experienced an environment that resembled this, in any sport, at any competitive event.But in terms of sheer joy? I was stupefied by Team USA vs.
Even during the interruptions in their momentum. Two minutes in, Nikola Jokic committed a turnover. The ball found LeBron James in transition with nobody pursuing him. I missed the slam dunk because everyone around me was suddenly rising to their feet in anticipation. A smorgasbord of European fans — Serbs, French, other neutrals — pumped their fists and hollered and high-fived one another. I was baffled.
I actually think those are pretty fascinating and nuanced questions, though the danger of social media is that they are reduced to fodder for name-calling and general vitriol. So my mind drifts back to Lille, and the Europeans who wanted Serbia to pull off an upset but couldn’t resist the delight of a LeBron dunk. The basketball enthusiasts who wore random vintage NBA jerseys that had nothing to do with either national team. The pocket of my section that eventually started loudly cheering every time Joel Embiid did something good, seemingly for no other reason than to cancel out the boos of the French.
It’s easy to understand why. The Olympics are mostly absent from our minds until they’re suddenly on TV once every four years. The NBA is a constantly breathing life force, with narratives and character arcs.
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