On Aug. 8, the U.S. men’s basketball team faced Serbia with a trip to the gold medal game at the Summer Olympics on the line. After winning the first meeting with ease, the United States needed all 40 minutes to win 95–91 and advance to play for the gold medal.
Stephen Curry hadn’t asserted himself much early in the tournament, but he came out of the gates firing in the semifinal. He scored the first five points for the United States and had 14 points in the first four minutes of the game. Unfortunately for Team USA, all five Serbian starters were on the board, while Curry had 14 of 15 total points at the mid-point of the first quarter.
Curry was the last American starter to check out of the game, heading to the bench with 1:42 left in the first quarter. At that point, he had 17 of the USA’s 23 points. And the United States trailed by four.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić went to the bench with 89 seconds remaining in the first quarter, and two free throws extended the lead to six. After the United States dominated Serbia while he was out of the first game, the Americans failed to put a single point on the board in his absence.
The second quarter couldn’t have started much worse for Team USA—and better for Serbia. After Anthony Edwards’ jumper went in, Serbia scored eight unanswered and forced Steve Kerr to call a timeout with his team down 39–25 with 7:40 left before the half. Curry came back off the bench after the timeout; Serbia out-scored the United States 12–2 while he was off the floor.
Joel Embiid scored a basket with 6:15 left in the second quarter, ending a three-minute scoring drought and bringing the United States within 15. Devin Booker then made a layup in transition, and Serbia used its first timeout to try to slow the momentum. Embiid hit a three to give the Americans a 7–0 run, but Filip Petrusev ended the run with a floater, and then Bogdanovic hit a three.
After the shot, Bogdanovic and LeBron James exchanged words until the officials sent the teams to their benches for a United States timeout. Tempers were getting hot.
LeBron then knocked down a three, stole the ball on the other end, and Embiid dunked with authority. It looked like the heated argument may have lit a fire in the American stars. However, the United States hadn’t trailed by more than eight at any point in the tournament and took an 11-point deficit to the locker room.
Aleksa Avramovic led Serbia with 15 points, and Bogdanovic scored 12 before the break. Jokić had nine points, three rebounds, and seven assists in the first half.
The United States struggled to find consistent offense to start the second half. The Americans went more than two full minutes before Curry made three-pointers in the middle of the quarter. Jokić went to the bench with his team leading by 11 and 60 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Marko Guduric knocked down a three and was fouled with 32 seconds left and made the free throw to push the lead back to 15. A Durant floater closed the third quarter at which the Americans was able to get within six but Serbia answered every time.
Serbia took a 76–63 lead to the fourth quarter and had successfully avoided the United States dominating, while Jokić took brief breaks at the ends of the first and third quarters. Jokić had 11 points and ten rebounds in 27:41 of the first 30 minutes of the game. Curry led the game with 27 of the 63 Team USA points.
The United States was able to make a few shots but only cut the lead to eight. When Durant hit a three with 7:19 remaining, Jokić picked up his fourth personal foul. With Jokić in foul trouble, Embiid scored seven straight points for the United States to cut the lead to two inside the final four minutes. An Embiid block followed by a layup from LeBron tied the game with 3:41 left in regulation, and Serbia used another timeout.
Curry, the hero of the day, knocked down a three to give the United States their first lead since he started the game at 2–0 with 2:24 left in regulation. LeBron and Curry then scored transition layups and the United States had a five-point lead and all of the momentum in the city of Paris.
Curry hit two free throws with 8.2 seconds left in regulation to extend the lead to four—and bring him within one point of the all-time U.S. record for scoring in an Olympic game. A Bogdanovic missed three at the buzzer, which allowed the Americans to finally exhale with victory.
LeBron finished with a triple-double (16 points, 12 rebounds, ten assists), while Curry scored 36 on 12 of 19 shooting.
The United States will face the host country, France, for the top spot on the podium. This is the first time since 1996 that the host country will medal—and play for gold.
