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2024 Paris Olympics

Team USA comes back from down 17 to advance to gold medal game with 95-91 win over Serbia

© Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

The United States men’s basketball team will be looking for its fifth-straight gold medal on Saturday after coming back from down 17 points to defeat Serbia 95-91 in the semifinals Thursday.

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The U.S. entered tonight having beaten Serbia by 26 points in both of their first two contests, one in an exhibition and one in group play. However, that was not the case tonight, as the Serbians were scorching hot from 3 nearly all game long and able to limit almost everyone on Team USA through the first three quarter, except for Stephen Curry.

Curry ended one point shy of Carmelo Anthony’s Team USA record for points in a game, finishing with 36 points on 12-of-19 shooting and going 9-for-14 from 3, while also grabbing eight rebounds.

Curry, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, LeBron James and Joel Embiid rounded out the starting lineup once again. Team USA was unable to rely on the bench unit of Derrick White, Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis for the first time all Olympics, as this group only had eight points through three quarters. Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton did not play.

The United States entered the fourth quarter down 13 points, but outscored Serbia 32-15 in the final 10 minutes. The U.S.’s best lineup of the game that sparked the comeback was Curry, Booker, James, Durant and Embiid (as well as Davis who started the fourth).

Embiid had 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting and four rebounds, including a stretch of seven straight points in the fourth quarter. James tallied the fourth Olympic triple double ever with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Durant scored seven of his nine points in the fourth, as the U.S. ended shooting 35-for-61 (57%) as a team and 16-for-32 (50%) from 3.

Nikola Jokic carved up the U.S. with his passing for Serbia, finishing with a 17-point, 11-assist double double. Serbia’s shooting percentages went way down after the final quarter, but Bogdan Bogdanovic led the way with 20 points, while Aleksa Avramovic scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting with all of his points coming in the first half. Serbia shot 15-for-30 through the first three quarters, but missed all nine 3-point attempts in the fourth.

The United States will now play France in the gold medal game, while Serbia will take on Germany for the bronze medal on Saturday.

Here’s how the action unfolded:

Game Flow

Curry, who was only in double figures one time this Olympics coming into the game, had 14 of the first 15 points for the Americans in only four minutes, but Serbia was on fire to start the game as well, beginning 5-for-5 from the field as a team. Avramovic scored eight early points on 3-of-3 shooting, while Bogdanovic had seven early points, as the Serbians were 5-for-6 from 3 and led 25-18 with just under four minutes to go in the first quarter.

Serbia continued this momentum to a 31-23 lead at the end of the first quarter, as Bogdanovic was up to nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and Jokic had six points and five assists, while Curry had a game-high 17 on 6-of-8 shooting for the U.S. The Serbians shot 11-for-17 (65%) from the floor in the quarter, while the U.S. was 7-for-16 (44%) as a team (1-for-8 outside Curry).

Serbia was not done, going on an 11-2 run to start the second quarter to build up a 42-25 lead with 6:24 remaining in the half, as the U.S. began the quarter 1-for-4 from the field. The United States responded with a 7-0 run with five of the points coming from Embiid. Bogdanovic quickly got the Serbian lead back up to 47-32 after a 3 with under four minutes to go.

By halftime, the U.S. was playing much better on both ends, but the Serbians took a 54-43 lead into the break, as Avramovic had 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, Bogdanovic added 12 and Jokic dominated with his passing, recording nine points and seven assists. Curry (20 points), James (nine points, five assists) and Embiid (seven points) were the only Americans with over five points in the first half. Serbia outrebounded the U.S. 20-14 in the half and shot over 50% from 3 (10-for-19).

The U.S. scored the first four points of the third quarter, but Serbia seemed to respond to any U.S. push and would not let them within seven points for a long time. However, every time Serbia made a 3, Curry seemed to answer with one of his own to not let the U.S. out of it. The United States finally got rolling with a two straight 3s to make it a six-point game, 65-59, with 3:30 to go. However, the Serbians used a 11-2 run to go up 76-63 going into the fourth. The U.S. bench, which had been dominant through the first four games, only had eight points through the first three quarters.

Curry, Booker, Durant, James and Davis started the fourth quarter for the United States. This lineup quickly got the Serbian lead down to 78-73 after Durant and Booker hit consecutive 3-pointers. Then, Embiid checked in with just over seven minutes to go and got rolling with seven straight points. James tied the game at 84 on a layup off an assist by Durant with 3:39 remaining. Curry gave the U.S. a 87-86 lead with a 3-pointer, his 32nd point of the game, with 2:22 remaining. James then hit a circus layup and Curry took a steal the length of the floor for a layup to put the U.S. ahead 91-86.

Bogdanovic made an and-one to cut the U.S. lead to two with just under a minute left, but Durant iced the game with a jumper with 34 seconds to go. Curry sealed it with two free throws with eight seconds left, as Team USA put on a fourth-quarter masterclass.

Next Up

The United States will take on Victor Wembanyama and France in the gold medal game on Aug. 10 at 12:30 p.m. MST. This will be a rematch of Team USA’s 87-82 gold medal win over France at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Devin Booker watches USA women’s basketball, skateboarding alongside stars in newest Paris vlog

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

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