USA avoid embarrassment against Serbia in Olympic basketball

The United States pulled off an incredible comeback on Thursday at the Olympic Games to avoid an embarrassing defeat to Serbia in the semi-finals of the men’s basketball in Paris.

America were behind by 76-63 heading into the fourth quarter and still trailed by 11 points with seven minutes to go.

It took a remarkable period of play from NBA stars Stephen Curry and LeBron James to ignite a comeback, with the No.1-ranked team scraping through 95-91 in the end.

“I’ve seen a lot of Team USA basketball,” Curry said after the match.

“And that was a special one.”

Serbia stun USA across first three quarters

Heading into Thursday’s semi-final, basketball bookmakers had the USA as heavy favourites.

Bovada had the side at -1666.67 to win, with Serbia well behind at +750.

Considering the Americans had won all of their Olympics matches by double figures over the last week, including a 110-84 thrashing of Serbia just days ago, the odds seemed fair.

However, for three quarters on the match, Serbia made it seem as though the bookies had got it wrong.

Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic was dominant with 17 points, 11 assists and five rebounds, while teammate Bogdan Bogdanovic racked up 20 points of his own.

“They were perfect,” said USA coach Steve Kerr of the Serbian effort.

“They played a perfect game, and they forced us to reach the highest level of competition that we could find.”

James and Curry ignite comeback

Despite Serbia leading for nearly 90 percent of the game, the United States were not to be denied.

A crucial turning point came when Anthony Davis was fouled in the process of Kevin Durant sinking a three-pointer.

This handed possession back to the Americans and resulted in another three points, rattling the Serbian side.

Two more three-pointers from Curry gave USA the lead, and the 16-time gold medallists never looked back.

Curry ended with 36 points, while James bagged a triple-double for his efforts.

“I’m really humbled to have been a part of this game,” Kerr said.

“Our guys were incredible in that fourth quarter, and they got it done.”

The United States are paying just -1428.57 to win the gold medal, with France waiting on Saturday in a repeat of the 2020 Olympics final.

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