August 9 ------ FOR the first time in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Team USA was finally put on the ropes, beat down and looked truly vulnerable as they faced a determined Serbia squad who was long primed and have always come up short in dethroning the longtime global basketball powerhouse. The European giants are going to have to wait a little longer – if even that day comes. Team USA took everything Serbia threw at them and still stood tall in the end as they stormed back from 17 points down to take a 95-91 win in front of a red-hot Parisian crowd inside the Bercy Arena late at night in the City of Lights.
Hearing all the talk with his sub-par performances with the national team, Stephen Curry finally had his breakout game, finishing with 36 points on 9-14 shooting from downtown – including the go-ahead three-pointer with 2:24 remaining which put the Americans ahead for the first time since the first quarter. Curry conspired with Joel Embiid, LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the Americans’ talent and depth finally showed up when they went on a critical 14-2 run which turned an 84-77 deficit to a comfortable 91-86 lead 1:41 remaining in the fourth. A three-point play from Bogdan Bogdanovic and a short stab by Nikola Jokic got Serbia to within two, the last time at 93-91 with 8.2 seconds remaining but Curry iced the game with his two free throws to finally put the Serbians away.
The victory pushed America to a showdown with Victor Wembanyama and hosts France for the gold medal on 9:30 PM Saturday in Paris (3:30 am Sunday PH time), in a rematch of the finals in Tokyo. For most of the game, it looked like the Americans were set for a disaster that no one saw coming, especially having blown out the same team in their opener by 26 points, 110-84. But behind the hot-shooting of Bogdanovic and Aleksa Avramovich, and another all-around game from Jokic, the Serbians zoomed ahead early and took a 42-25 midway through the second, and stayed in control up until the early moments of the fourth quarter where they still held an 11 point lead.
But a rare six-point swing which started with a Durant three, a Jokic foul away from ball, and another quick three pointer from Devin Booker put the Americans to within two possessions to set up the frantic finish, where the Americans proved to have plenty left in their gas tanks. Joel Embiid was once again met with boos in Paris but he rose above it to finish with 19 points, seven of which coming in the big fourth quarter where the Americans outscored the Serbians 32-15. Bogdanovic led the way for the Serbians with 20 points while Jokic added 17 points, 11 assists and five rebounds. Avramovich finished with 15, but cooled off after a hot first quarter as he was held scoreless in the final 20 minutes. As Curry took the spotlight with his brilliant scoring, James was quietly making history on the sides as his triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists made him the only player in Olympics history to notch two triple-doubles. James did it the first time in the 2012 London Olympics when he finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists against Australia.
Aside from James, only two other players have breached the triple-double mark in the quadrennial games with Luka Doncic doing it for Slovenia in Tokyo (16 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists versus France) and USSR's Alexander Belov (23 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists versus Canada) from way back 1976.
Source: spin.ph
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