USA superstar Stephen Curry was only shooting 26% from three before the semi-final game against Serbia, but the future Hall of Famer held the best for one of the most impressive games in the history of the Olympics. Curry had 36 points, 8 rebounds and 9 makes from three, USA came back from down 17 and beat Serbia in a thriller, 95-91.
The Serbians had the lead until the last three minutes of the game when Stephen Curry hit his 9th three to put USA up 87-86. James drove from the center of the court to the basket as Serbia started to feel jaded against a very deep USA team to open up a 3-point lead (89-86), Curry followed with a floater and the star-studded team created a 91-86 separation.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, who had a team-high 20 points, gave hope to his team (91-88), but Durant made a contested shot over Petrusev to put the game away with something more than 30 seconds remaining on the clock. Serbia fought hard and saw Jokic putting a passing clinic with 11 assists alongside his 17 points and 5 rebounds.
Aleksa Avramovic had 15 points — all of them in the first half — for Serbia who will fight for the bronze medal against Germany on Saturday. Team USA was close to ruining its perfect Olympic record, but they advanced to the final game of the tournament where they will meet France.
Frances stuns Germany to set up a meeting with USA
A France is a different beast during the knockout phase and they proved it again by ending Germany’s perfect record in the semi-finals. The French team was down by 10 early in the game but came back with an excellent defensive effort to put the Germans away, 73-69.
Guerschon Yabusele had 17 points and 7 rebounds, and Germany was gutted by the France NT physicality to commit 15 turnovers and shot only 40% from the field.
Victor Wembanyama’s two defensive plays on Dennis Schroder was crucial during the final moments of the fourth quarter as the German star scored 18 points but needed 18 attemtpts. Isaia Cordinier had another huge game with 16 points and 7 rebounds, while Wembanyama filled the stat sheet with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.
