AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill,Pool
The cream of the NBA saw and suffered to eliminate the surprising Serbs in the exciting second semifinal of the Olympic Games: 95-91, from 43-54 at halftime and 61-76 at the end of the third period. The Americans advanced to tomorrow’s final, where they will clash with France, as they will in 2021 in Tokyo.
The “Plavi” made a delightful appearance and led 54-43 at halftime, while earlier the difference reached 17 points. Team USA temporarily came close with the support of the crowd, but three pointers by Micic, Guduric made the score 76-61 late in the third quarter. The Americans launched their final counterattack after 78-67 with Durant, Embiid and tied 3:39 before the end with a basket by LeBron James: 84-84. Steph Curry made it 87-86, the exhausted Serbs fought until the end, but Steph Curry shaped the final score with 2/2 shots with 8 seconds left.
Steph Curry scored 20 of his 36 points in the first period. Joel Embiid added 19 and LeBron James 16, while Kevin Durant (9 points) scored decisive baskets.
Bogdan Bogdanovic led the Serbs with 20 points, while Abramovic added 16. Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 17 points and 11 assists.
In the first semifinal, France defeated Germany 73-69 (halftime 32-32) and advanced to the final for the second consecutive Olympiad. With the support of 15,000 fans at “Bercy”, the “blues” escaped in the second half with a difference of 13 points and withstood the counterattack of the World champions, led by Jabusel (17), Cordinieu (16), Webaniama (10) and Matias Lessor of Panathinaikos (10). Schroeder scored 18 points and Franz Wagner scored 10 for Germany, which eliminated our National Team in yesterday’s quarterfinal.
The grand final will be held on Saturday night at 10.30pm. The Greek team finished in positions 5-8, since there are no ranking matches.
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