Team USA survives Serbia, returns to Olympics finals

Team USA stormed back from a potential upset against Serbia to return to the gold medal game in the Olympics men’s basketball tournament.

The Americans defeated the Serbians 95-91 at the Bercy Arena on Friday, August 9 (PH time), after bouncing back from a 17-point deficit.

Stephen Curry showcased his best of the tournament by producing 36 points on 9 of 14 shooting behind the arc while LeBron James recorded his second triple double in the Olympics (first player to do it in history) by scoring 16 points, grabbing 12 boards and dishing off 10 assists.

Entering the fourth period, the Serbians still have a 13-point cushion but Curry and James together with Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant showed their poise in the final canto where they went on a 14-2 run which turned an 84-77 deficit to a comfortable 91-86 lead with 1:41 remaining in the game.

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.

Team USA will now have a finals rematch against host country France whom they also beat in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to win their fourth straight gold in the Summer Games.

The gold medal game will be scheduled at 3:30 a.m on August 11, Sunday (PH time).

On the other hand, Serbia will battle Germany for the bronze medal at 5:00 p.m on August 10, Saturday (PH time).

USA 95 - Curry 36, Embiid 19, James 16, Durant 9, Booker 6, Davis 4, Holiday 3, Edwards 2, Adebayo 0, White 0, Haliburton DNP, Tatum DNP.

Serbia 91 - Bogdanovic 20, Jokic 17, Avramovic 15, Dobric 9, Petrusev 9, Guduric 9, Micic 8, Milutinov 4, Jovic 0, Marikonovic 0, Davidovac DNP, Uros DNP.