NIKOLA Jokic wrapped up a brilliant 2024 Paris Olympics campaign with a triple-double and a bronze medal as Serbia took out Germany, 93-83, in the battle for third place inside Bercy Arena in Paris.
Jokic finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the wire-to-wire win, becoming just the fourth player in Olympics history to get that distinction after LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Alexander Belov.
Just a few days removed from a heartbreaking 95-91 loss to Team USA in the semis, the Serbians were back in business to start the bronze medal game as they took control from the get-go and never looked back.
The Serbians padded their lead to 19, 64-45, midway through the third quarter before cruising to a comfortable finish as they returned to the podium of the quadrennial games after missing out the entire tournament in Tokyo altogether in 2021.
Their best finish was winning silver back in Rio 2016.
Vasilije Micic also finished with 19 points for Serbia while Bogdan Bogdanovic wrapped up yet another solid campaign for Serbia with 16 markers and three assists. Aleksa Avramovich added 13, Filip Petrusev chipped in 11 while Vanja Marinkovic had 10 to highlight the Serbs’ balanced attack.
It’s a disappointing end for the reigning FIBA World Champions who looked primed to challenge Team USA for the gold medal after a dominant showing in the group stages, but faltered in the games that mattered the most.
Like Serbia, Germany also lost a double-digit lead against France before running out of steam in the end game and in the bronze medal match, the Germans looked like they’re just simply outmatched.
Franz Wagner led the way for them with 18 points and nine rebounds while Dennis Schroder added 13 points and six assists but also had six turnovers in the loss.
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