TEAM USA had breezed past Serbia twice in the last two weeks, once in the group stage of the 2024 Paris Olympics men's basketball's group stage, and was expected to encounter few difficulties in their semifinal on Friday.
Wrong.
A tenacious stand from Nikola Jokic and his hot-shooting teammates gave the Americans all they could handle before pulling off a 95-91 win and a place in the gold-medal game against Victor Wembenyama and host France.
The Americans trailed for all but 3:15 minutes of the game and fell behind by as much as 17 points as Jokic and Co. showed a lot more spunk and fight than when they lost to Team USa, 105-79, in a friendly last July 17 in the UAE.
READ USA storms back from 17 points down to stun upset-seeking Serbia
But Serbia's tough stand only served to bring the best out of the Americans, who responded with a 36-point, 9-trey night from Steph Curry, a triple-double from LeBron James, and clutch performances from Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid.
"They came out and hit some amazingly tough shots in the first half, and you gotta give credit to them, they are a really good team, and it's hard to beat a team three times," said Curry. "To come back the way we did... I've seen a lot of Team USA basketball, and that was a special one."
Curry also hit the game's biggest shot - a three-pointer off a pass by James and a screen by Embiid that rattled in after one bounce and gave Team USA the lead for the first time since the first quarter, 87-86, with 2:24 left.
"I haven't had many opportunities, and haven't shot the ball well the whole tournament. But it doesn't waver your confidence to meet the moment," said the Golden State Warriors gunner.
"I had some great looks to start the game. Knocked them down, kept the rhythm flowing, and the one in the fourth quarter - Joel set a great screen, thankfully they didn't call that flop because it was bad, and knocking down a big shot like that, we live for those moments."
As impressive was James, whose 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists made him the first player in Olympics history to post two triple-doubles.
"I mean, it's up there. I'm 39 years old, I'm on to my 22nd season, I don't know how many opportunities and moments I'm gonna get like this to compete in big games, and tonight was a big game for us," said James of his triple-double.
"It's good to be tested. It's great to be tested. And our ultimate goal is one game away."
Team USA coach Steve Kerr said the nature of the Olympics' basketball tournament breeds games like this one, where even the best teams needed to gut it out.
"We knew coming into this tournament that there's always going to be a game like this," said Kerr. "It's the Olympics, FIBA, 40 minutes... One game and you're out. So you're not gonna blaze through this tournament, we knew that."
Serbia head coach Svetislav Pesic said there is no anger in his heart after the loss.
"Of course I'm proud how we played, especially after the game against Australia, where we came back from -24, but that costs us a lot of strength," he said.
"But you saw how tough mentally we were, we made it all the way until the end and one ball or two balls decided the game," he said. "In Serbia, we usually say, those who lose have the right to be angry. I'm not angry at all, I'm proud of everything we've done."
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