The King 👑 + the Chef👨🏽‍🍳

Your Olympics essentials.

• What happened yesterday: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set another 400-meter hurdle world record en route to another Olympic gold! Tara Davis-Woodhall won gold in the long jump and then threw on a cowboy hat to celebrate – yee-haw indeed! Grant Holloway won gold in the 110-meter hurdles! Noah Lyles got a bronze in the 200-meter dash while fighting COVID. The U.S. men’s basketball team dug deep to come back against Serbia in the semifinals! The U.S. women’s volleyball team won a five-set thriller against Brazil in the semifinals! The U.S. women’s water polo team lost to Australia in the semifinals! Check out all the day’s highlights .
• What’s happening today: The U.S. women's basketball team plays Australia in the semifinals! France and Spain play in the men's soccer final! Breaking starts! The U.S. men's water polo team plays Serbia in the semifinals! More track and field finals ! Follow all the day’s action .
• The latest medal count: Entering Friday, the U.S. led the medal count with 103 (30 golds, 38 silvers, 35 bronze) and led the gold medal count, no ties.

The USA TODAY app brings you every Team USA medal — right when it happens. Download for full Olympics coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and much more .

Cookin' on the court.

The U.S. men’s basketball team is hunting for a fifth consecutive gold medal. Nikola Jokic and Serbia almost derailed that last night. The Americans, down 13 entering the fourth quarter, pulled out a four-point win to get to the gold medal game. LeBron James and Steph Curry , once bitter rivals, sharing an intense moment of jubilation right as the whistle blew.

Watching the fourth quarter, you could tell the Americans were pissed they let it come to this, that they did not want to go out like that. You could see the release – the pride, even – in their celebrations. Kevin Durant , who pulled down a key defensive rebound with about 4 minutes left that led to a Joel Emiid bucket to pull the U.S. within two, said after that he and his teammates would remember the night for the rest of their lives.

The Americans’ Olympic reign on the basketball court has been dynastic; the women are going for their eighth straight gold. But the world is catching up , giving trouble, getting closer, going after them. LeBron and Steph and KD now have to go through France on Saturday to win gold. Let me tell you, that French crowd at Bercy Arena is going to be – and I cannot emphasize this enough – insanely loud and active. It should be a great game.

Your hoops essentials.

• From bitter rivals to Olympic teammates, how LeBron James and Steph Curry became friends .
• LeBron is relishing this moment in Paris, and coach Steve Kerr is enjoying the view.
• 'Chef Curry' finally found his shot and ignited the U.S. in its win over Serbia.
• For Kevin Durant , USA basketball — and especially the Olympics — has served as a hoops sanctuary .
• Winter is coming for U.S. men's basketball. The game against Serbia showed it's almost here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The King 👑 + the Chef👨🏽‍🍳