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PARIS — The United States men’s basketball team managed an incredible comeback to avoid a major scare from Serbia in the Olympic semifinals on Thursday.
The Americans shook off a 17-point first-half deficit to win 95-91 and advance to play France on Saturday in the Olympic gold medal game.
Stephen Curry saved the day with a remarkable 36 points. LeBron James added 16 and played an excellent all-around game. Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and Devin Booker stepped up in the fourth quarter.
It was a hellacious finishing effort by the Americans. A Curry 3-pointer with 2:20 left got them into the lead, 87-86. James then scored on a powerful drive and Curry added a layup as they ratcheted up the defense.
Having trailed every second since there was 5:46 left in the first quarter, it was the first time the U.S. could feel any level of comfort.
Serbia kept rallying, though, and got it back to two, but then Durant crossed over his defender and hit a 17-footer before Curry iced it from the free-throw line with only 8.2 seconds on the clock.
Exhale, America. For now.
The U.S. needed every last bit of the game to neutralize a hot-shooting Serbian team led by three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić.
The world has caught the United States in men’s basketball. While a Serbian victory would have been considered by many an upset because the U.S. has won 16 of the 19 Olympics it has competed in — including the last four — the game was not close because of luck or a fluke or a poor American performance.
Serbia is every bit the equal of the Americans, who may have the deepest and most talented roster, but don’t have the best player. That’s Jokić, who, surrounded by sharpshooters Aleksa Avramovic (15 points) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (20 points), torched the U.S. across the first three quarters.
Jokić, the Denver Nuggets superstar, was absolutely brilliant in every imaginable way. He scored. He rebounded. He defended. He set picks. He was the steadying force for a team that appeared to become more and more confident with each ensuing possession. He finished with 17 points, 11 assists and five rebounds.
Yet in the end, he couldn’t best the old heads of USA Basketball — 39-year-old James, 36-year-old Curry and 35-year-old Durant.
This is the new reality of Olympic basketball, the fruition of it becoming a global game. The question now is whether the U.S. men’s basketball team can win a highly competitive tournament.
The ferocious and physical French team — and their rabid home crowd — await for the gold.