LeBron and Steph Curry Lead the Way as Team USA Overcomes Deficit to Beat Nikola Jokic and Team Serbia

Team USA has secured their spot in the finals and will face France in an epic showdown at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This sets the stage for an intense battle as France, the host country, aims to capture gold on their home turf.

At one point in the semifinal second quarter, Team USA trailed by 17 points. It seemed as if Serbia would not miss a three-pointer all game. The one bright spot was Steph Curry’s five three-pointers in the first quarter, which kept Team USA in the game with a puncher’s chance. In the second quarter, LeBron James became much more active after Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic directed a three-point celebration toward former Team USA and future hall-of-famer Carmelo Anthony.

After a timeout taken by Steve Kerr, LeBron took exception to Bogdanovic’s jawing. Immediately after the timeout, James scored and got a steal. The Serbian National team’s bench played better than Team USA’s throughout the game, and the drop-off between the starters and the bench was glaring.

At the end of the third quarter, the starters had cut Serbia’s lead to six, but after two minutes with the reserves, they found themselves down by 15 again. Anthony Edwards never found a real rhythm, and Jokic gave Bam Adebayo fits throughout the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter, Steve Kerr made the decision to play Steph, Durant, James, Booker, and Embiid. How could we forget to mention Embiid, who entered in the second quarter and immediately scored on his first pull-up?

Finishing the game with 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting, Embiid was a man among boys in the fourth quarter. He showed rare emotion, taking on the challenge of guarding the best player in the world, Nikola Jokic. Jokic played the last five minutes of the game with four fouls, finishing with 17 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds. LeBron James, as Kerr has said, has been the leader vocally and through his actions. Scoring 16 points, 12 rebounds, and ten assists, James led this team to their fifth straight gold medal game.

James was impactful, but this game will be remembered as the Steph Curry game. Scoring 36 points and grabbing eight rebounds, Curry came up one point shy of Carmelo Anthony’s record of 37 points. His three-pointer to give Team USA the lead showcased the emotion that this game can pull out of you.

Steph Curry just had one of the best Olympic performances of all time pic.twitter.com/YZZSk8BMSS

— Marshall Green (@MarshallGreen_) August 8, 2024

Outscoring Serbia 32-15 in the fourth quarter, Team USA will face a hungry France team on Saturday afternoon. Beating Germany 73-69, France will be the first host country in over 20 years to play in the gold medal game, a huge accomplishment that should create an energy that will be hard to replicate.