Team USA has faced little resistance through its first four Olympic games in Paris, beating Serbia, South Sudan, Puerto Rico and Brazil by an average margin of 24.7 points.
The Americans’ 35-point triumph over Brazil in Wednesday’s Olympic quarterfinals, fueled by Devin Booker and Joel Embiid, was their most impressive performance yet.
However, while Team USA has been dominant in these Olympics, none of its wins have been more impressive than what Serbia, who the Americans will face in the semifinals on Thursday, accomplished in its quarterfinal matchup against Australia.
Serbia trailed by 24 points at halftime against Australia until Nikola Jokić put the team on his back. In his third double-double performance at the 2024 Olympics, the three-time NBA MVP finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and four steals to lead his country to a 95-90 win in overtime. It went down as the largest comeback in Olympic basketball history.
Serbia is still in the mix for gold. Jokić continues to prove why many view him as the best player in the world. And after going 1-of-6 from the field last time Serbia faced the Americans at the start of group play, the versatile big man will be looking for revenge.
“Every game is its own test,” LeBron James said. “No matter what happened in the first two, it’s about what goes down Thursday night. So, we need to lock in our film session, lock in during the day on Thursday and then come out and be ready to go.”
The Serbs have not been as dominant as the Americans in Paris, but they are battle tested, and that matters. Team USA remains the heavy favorite entering Thursday’s matchup, but that is no excuse for them to get cocky. Head coach Steve Kerr is trying his best to prepare the team accordingly.
“We can’t get lulled to sleep because we beat them twice,” Kerr said. “We have to be prepared for their best effort. We’ve got to think about what they are going to do differently. Jokić, I guess he could play 40 minutes. What else do they have up their sleeve?”
Jokić, who has averaged 19.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.0 blocks in the summer games, played just 13 minutes in Serbia’s loss to the Americans in group play. Expect that to change on Thursday. If the Serbs have any hope of pulling a historic upset, any success they have must start and end with Jokić.
“I guess we’ll be ready for that,” Joel Embiid said. “If that’s what they think they have to do to try to beat us, then they won’t hesitate to do that”
Team USA men’s basketball has reached the semifinals in all 20 Olympic games they have participated in. The Americans rank first in points per game and field goal percentage in these Olympics, while Serbia ranks second in both categories.
However, Team USA held Serbia to 84 points on 42% shooting in group play, their worst output in both categories in Paris.
“I think this will be their best game against us,” Kerr said. “We’ve had two wins against them, but they’ve proven to be one of the best teams in the world, and now that they’ve seen us a couple of times, I’m sure they’ll have some counters for us.”
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