Team USA vs Serbia recap

After a 122-87 blow out win against Brazil in the quarter-finals, Team USA faced off against Serbia. The third matchup in as many weeks for the two nations. This game was easily the toughest contest the USA has faced at these 2024 Olympics. Let’s dive into the whole game and some adjustments USA had to make throughout the matchup.  

The starting lineup of the USA stayed the same as it has throughout much of the Olympics. Lebron, Curry, Booker, Holiday, and Embiid started the game for the USA. The first quarter started out very fast. Steph Curry got going with a barrage of threes in the opening period. He hit 4 threes early on that included a no-look turnaround three in front of the USA bench. However, Serbia was counter-punching as they hit 5/9 from three point range in the opening frame. The Curry barrage slowed down a little and the USA didn’t have anyone else step up and help out on the offensive end. The Serbian backcourt got going as they connected on some 3 point attempts and were able to hold down the highly talented USA offense. The Nikola Jokic handoffs, and pick and rolls caused a lot of issues for the United States. Jokic is a very good passer and Serbia spaces the floor for him to either score or pass very well. Playing Joel Embiid means the USA plays drop coverage in these situations. When playing drop coverage typically the guard defending the ball handling goes over. However, the United States wanted to limit Jokic post touches at the nail, or middle of the floor and the guards went under all handoffs and screens. This allowed many of the Serbian guards to shoot open attempts from three and really hurt the USA early on. The first quarter ended 31-23 in favor of Serbia. 

The second quarter saw the second unit start after they trickled in one at a time throughout the end of the first quarter. The second unit consisted of Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, Derrick White, Bam Adebayo, and Anthony Davis. This unit has typically been very good for the United States as the starters wore down the other teams starting lineups in previous games. However, this was not the case. The second unit came out a little slow and saw the Serbian lead pushed to 13 points. The USA offense was stagnant due to the matchup zone the Serbians started playing. Serbia had issues keeping the ball out of the paint in the first two matchup against the USA and this zone did just that. The United States constantly settled for threes and jump shots that seemed out of rhythm for most of them. A Bogdan Bogdanovic three put the lead to 17 for Serbia with about 7 minutes left in the first half. This was the largest deficit the United States had faced all Olympics and signaled some serious trouble for the Americans. The Momentum shift felt like it changed a little bit as the United States were able to get the deficit to 10, but a wide open miss from Anthony Edwards led to a layup for Serbia and a miss from Curry saw Bogdanovic lace a three in transition saw the lead get pushed to 15 left halfway through the second quarter. The USA finished the quarter a little bit better as they started going over on handoffs and screens to deter the Serbian guards from getting quality looks from three. However, Serbia still led 54-43 at the break. It felt like the obvious adjustment for the USA was to start switching the Jokic pick and rolls and have a larger defender switch onto Jokic after he sets the screen so a smaller player wouldn’t be guarding him after the switch on the pick and roll. 

The third quarter started with urgency from the United States. The starting 5 opened the frame for the United States with two easy buckets to cut the lead to 7 from Serbia. However, Serbia remained tough and hit some big shots from three to help keep the USA at bay. A miscommunication from the United States saw a Serbian guard get a wide open look from three and drain it to push the lead to 13. With about 3 minutes left Jrue Holiday hit a big three after a lazy pass from Curry saw Serbia potentially get an easy layup the other way but Booker was able to corral the pass and hit Holiday in the corner to make the shot. After another stop Joel Embiid had a big dunk on the baseline that saw him show the most emotion after a play in this Olympics. However, Serbia remained sound and was able to stretch the lead out after the USA went under on handoffs. The Serbian Spain action also worked well (A Spain action is went a there’s a pick and roll and another guard sets a screen on the screeners man and the ball handling has the option of hitting the big, whose receiving a screen after setting one, or the other guard setting the screen on the Big's defender.) This action was used a couple times when the Serbians needed a bucket and it gave the USA a lot of problems in the 3rd quarter. A 4-point play from Serbia saw them heading into the 4th quarter with a 76-63 lead. 

The 4th quarter was very critical and saw the USA at their best on both ends of the floor. The USA was able to double Jokic and get some easy layups on the offensive end, however the tenacity from the Serbian bigs saw them get some second chance points from offensive rebounds. It felt like these were killing the United States momentum, but they held strong. Steve Kerr went with a lineup of Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Devin Booker to mount a comeback against Serbia. It was a back-and-forth affair, but the momentum started to change towards the United States' side after a huge 30 seconds segment with about 6 minutes and 30 seconds left. Lebron James found Kevin Durant open on the wing from an Anthony Davis screen. Durant hit the 3 as Jokic fouled Davis while he was setting the screen. This resulted in 3 points and the United States received the ball on the sideline. This also saw Jokic pick up his 4th foul. Once the United States took the ball out, Devin Booker hit a 3 off the inbounds pass from James and saw the United States pull within 5. Serbia then called a timeout. Leading 78-73 with about 5 minutes left. Out of the timeout Serbia was able to get an easy layup and push the lead back to 7. Joel Embiid checked in the game and he was to shoulder the offensive load. A couple of mid range shots and an And-1 saw the Serbian lead cut to 4. The USA also made a change on defense to have Lebron James defend Nikola Jokic. He was able to create a little confusion for the Serbian offense and it helped the USA get much needed stops. Lebron also had a very smart double team on Jokic that forced a turnover as well. After an Embiid mid-range make, Kevin Durant came up with a huge rebound over a Serbian player as he was right under the basket with an easy shot available. Durant then cut the lead to 2 with a jumper. The most important 55 seconds occurred after. With 2 minutes and 36 seconds left, Serbia was able to get an offensive rebound and had a wide open shot to push the lead to 5, however they missed and the USA was able to set up a play. This saw Stephen Curry hit a 3 to take the lead 87-86. The United States forced a Serbian miss and Lebron James got out in transition and finished a tough layup in traffic. Stephen Curry then got a steal and was able to convert a layup to push the USA lead to 5 with about 1 minute and 41 seconds left. The USA excitement was evident and the whole arena was jumping from the quick 7-0 USA run. Out of the timeout Serbia was able to get an And-1 from Bogdanovic. Two baskets traded between the teams saw the USA lead 91-89 with under a minute left. Kevin Durant stood at the top of the key with a mismatch and drained a clutch mid-range shot to put the USA up 93-89. A Jokic bucket saw the lead cut to 2 and the USA with the ball with 18 seconds left in the game and 15 seconds left on the shot clock. It seemed like Serbia didn’t know whether to foul or let the possession play out as they pressured the ball, but eventually fouled Curry with 8.2 seconds left in the game. Curry made both free throws and some full court pressure forced Serbia into a 3 with about 3 seconds left that was missed. The United Stated rebounded the ball and was able to comeback from 17 point down to claim a 95-91 win and advance to the Gold Medal game on Saturday vs host nation France. 

Steph Curry shouldered the scoring with 36 points on 12/19 shooting from the floor and 9/14 from three. Lebron James had a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. Joel Embiid also added 19 points as well. 

It didn’t look promising for Team USA, but clutch play from Kevin Durant, a Lebron James triple-double, and a 36 point eruption from Steph Curry saw Team USA advance. It was an extremely gutty performance, and a fantastic game to watch.