STEPHEN Curry steered Team USA to a come-from-behind 95-91 victory over Serbia in the semifinals round of the 2024 Paris Olympics men’s basketball on Thursday night (Friday in the Philippines) at the Bercy Arena in Paris, France.
Down by as much as 17 points in the opening half and trailing 78-67 with over seven minutes in the game, Team USA clawed their way back to take an 87-86 lead on a Curry three-pointer.
Serbia still tried to keep the match close at 89-91 with under a minute left, but a basket from Kevin Durant and two free throws from Curry sealed the victory for the Americans.
Curry finished the game with 36 points, including nine three-point conversions, to go with eight rebounds, two assists, and a steal as Team USA moved closer to retaining the Olympic gold medal.
Joel Embiid scored 19 points on 8 for 11 shooting and LeBron James posted a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists for Team USA, which will enter its 20th Olympic finals appearance.
“I’m really humbled to have been a part of this game,” Team USA head coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s one of the greatest basketball games I’ve ever been a part of.”
“(Serbia) were perfect. They played a perfect game, and they forced us to reach the highest level of competition that we could find. And our guys were incredible in that fourth quarter, and they got it done,” he added.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 20 points to lead Serbia, while Nikola Jokic and Aleksa Avramovic contributed 17 and 15 markers, respectively, in the defeat.
In the gold medal match, Team USA will face host France in a rematch of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s basketball event championship game.
France reached the gold medal round following a come-from-behind 73-69 victory over reigning FIBA World Cup champions Germany in the other semis game./PN
BOX SCORE:
USA 95 — Curry 36, Embiid 19, James 16, Durant 9, Booker 6, Davis 4, Holiday 3, Edwards 2, Adebayo 0, White 0.
SERBIA 91 — Bogdanovic 20, Jokic 17, Avramovic 15, Petrusev 9, Dobric 9, Guduric 9, Micic 8, Milutinov 4, Jovic 0, Marinkovic 0.
Quarterscores: 23-31; 43-54; 63-76; 95-91.
