Team USA Men’s Basketball Avoids Semi-Final Disaster, Comes Back To Defeat Serbia 95-91

Roster depth didn’t make a difference. If not for Steph Curry and Steph Curry alone, Team USA would be competing for a bronze medal this weekend.

The United States survived a torrid upset bid from Serbia to win 95-91 In the men’s basketball semifinals Thursday. Curry scored 36 points in the contest, carrying an otherwise-lethargic American team to a gold-medal match with France this Saturday.

Down 13 points going into the fourth quarter, the United States outscored Serbia 32-15 in the final 10 minutes. Every second of the sudden and devastating offensive onslaught was necessary for the team to complete the comeback. At any point before the fourth quarter, the gold-medal favorites seemed woefully outmatched.

Despite defeating Serbia twice in the past month, Team USA was completely unprepared to take on the Eastern European nation at its best. Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic was a problem all game, finishing with 17 points and 11 assists. Team USA coach Steve Kerr tried everything to contain him, eventually giving the assignment to LeBron James in the final stages.

Around Jokic, Serbian players shot with elite accuracy for most of the game; Bogdan Bogdanovic led the way in a spirited 20-point showing. The United States’ offense never stalled, and yet, the team was constantly on the back foot because of Serbia’s accuracy on the other end.

While Serbia shot the lights out of the Bercy Arena in Paris, Curry was the one who kept Team USA in the hunt. During the team’s fourth-quarter comeback, he was also the one who hit the go-ahead three-pointer and game-clinching free throws.

Curry was not the only American player who performed well by the end. Joel Embiid, who has been on and off the bench in the Olympics, finished with 19 points. James has been consistently excellent for the entire tournament and sustained the run with a triple-double, scoring 16 points with 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

“Gotta get in the hard way. We was preaching that the whole fourth quarter,” James said on the court after the game. “Beating a team three times in the last three weeks, we know it was gonna be difficult. We knew Serbia was gonna give us everything they had. Kudos to Serbia, but we came through.”

Losing this game would have been disastrous for Team USA, which was more or less stymied by a Serbian team that it had defeated convincingly in both exhibition and group stage play. The gold-medal game against France this weekend will require more from nearly everyone — Victor Wembanyama and company are unlikely to fall to singlehanded heroics.