The US men’s basketball team defeated Serbia 95-91 in the semifinals on Thursday. Paris OlympicsA huge comeback after being down by double digits entering the fourth quarter.
They scored six points in two seconds. Just like that, against what seemed like tremendous odds, the US Olympic men’s basketball team was on its way.
Steph Curry scored 36 points, including a 3-pointer with 2:16 remaining, as the U.S. beat Serbia 95-91 and will play for gold at the Paris Olympics on Saturday night against France. The U.S. trailed by 17 points in the first half, and faced an 11-point halftime deficit — the most successfully overcome by a U.S. team since NBA players were added to the Olympic mix in 1992.
Serbia lead by 11 at 7:19. The rest of the way, all U.S
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That would be America Gold is up for grabs in Saturday night’s dream match against hosts France, while Serbia faces Germany on Saturday for bronze.
The entire game changed in the fourth after a wild streak in which the US scored six points in two seconds. Kevin Durant makes a 3-pointer when Anthony Davis is fouled. The USA got another possession, and Devin Booker made another 3-pointer.
Just like that, Serbia’s 78-67 lead was reduced to 78-73. The comeback began, and Curry’s 3 put America up for good. He made a pair of free throws with 8.2 seconds left to make it a two-possession game, and the Americans escaped.
Joel Embiid had 19 points and LeBron James added 16 for the US, which is now assured of its 20th medal in 20 Olympic games.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 20 points for Serbia, which got 17 from Nikola Jokic and 15 from Aleksa Avramovic.
Serbia’s coach Svetislav Pedic has been saying the same thing all summer, that the team the United States assembled for the Paris Games is better than any in Olympic history. Even the Dream Team, he insisted.
A flurry of Serbian 3-pointers kept the Americans squarely on the ropes until the game turned in the fourth. The U.S. is 144-6 all-time in Olympic play, 63-4 since NBA players were added to the Olympics in 1992.
The comeback kept alive Kevin Durant’s hopes of becoming the first four-time Olympic men’s gold medalist.
And of all American semifinal moments, this one was like few. The four-point margin of victory in an Olympic semifinal is the second-closest in U.S. history; In the 2000 semifinals in Sydney, the United States defeated Lithuania by two points.
