Booker, Durant take part in unforgettable Team USA comeback vs. Serbia
Aug 8, 2024, 2:35 PM
Lebron James #6, Kevin Durant #7, and Stephen Curry #4 of Team United States celebrate after their team's win against Team Serbia during a Men's basketball semifinals match between Team United States and Team Serbia on day thirteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 08, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
A special quarter of basketball unlike few ever seen was played on Thursday and the Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker and Kevin Durant were on the court for all of it at the Olympics.
Team USA’s legendary 32-15 fourth period comeback over Serbia decided a 95-91 final that was the basketball gods gifting us one final moment to appreciate this current generation of the game.
Stephen Curry’s go-ahead 3, LeBron James’ unbelievable transition finish and a Curry transition layup was a 7-0, 42-second run that went from the Untied States being down one to up five in the late fourth quarter.
STEPHEN. CURRY. TEAM USA LEADS.#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC, USA Network and Peacock pic.twitter.com/C4MUUl1v78
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 8, 2024
LECAPTAIN AMERICA!
Team USA extends their lead over Serbia. #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC, USA Network and Peacock pic.twitter.com/FvYRv6Mw8f
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 8, 2024
After a timeout call, Durant forced a backcourt violation on a phenomenal defensive possession. Then with 45 seconds left and Team USA up two, we all knew who to give the ball. Durant isolated and drilled a middy to effectively ice the game.
— Hated (@HatedzsMedia) August 8, 2024
Booker had six points in 24 minutes while Durant added nine points in his own 24 minutes. The duo and their squad advances to the gold medal game on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. MST against France in what will be an absolutely unglued atmosphere from Paris.
Curry was out of this world with 36 points, the savior of this game. Right behind him was Joel Embiid’s best outing for the Americans by far with 19. James had a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
In what we talked about for the preview to this matchup, Serbia cashed in its tickets from the 3-point line on being due for a scorcher after multiple poor shooting performances. It knocked down five of its first six 3s and 10 overall in the half it led by as many as 17.
A few offensive rebounds here, a few missed US free throws there and four turnovers that were unforced errors were all it took to trail by 11 at halftime. And it should have been much more if it wasn’t for a 17-point first quarter out of Curry.
If Team USA cruising through its first four games lulled you into a false sense of the Americans suddenly expanding the gap on their competitors, that gap just isn’t there anymore. Yes, the United States has the best squad by a sizable margin. But against the best of the rest, it is still not enough of a margin to avoid vulnerability. Team USA played a mediocre half, Serbia played an awesome one and that was the deal.
Serbia was going to leave a few windows in the second half and it was just a matter of if the Americans could capitalize. The first came in the mid-third quarter when the Serbians got cold but the United States turned it over on three out of four possessions and the other was Durant missing an open 3. It looked like it was shut before Curry and Jrue Holiday knocked down triples to make it 72-66. Serbia showed serious composure and got the lead back to 11 early in the fourth quarter.
Durant and Booker then hit back-to-back 3s to cut the Serbian lead to five, the lowest it had been since the late first quarter. A disastrous three offensive rebounds giving Serbia four free points was offset by five points from Embiid to bring it to 84-80 at under five minutes remaining. Embiid answered a Jokic bucket with his own and-one before another Embiid jumper and James layup tied it at 84 with 3:41 to go, setting the stage for that unforgettable closing sequence.
Bogdan Bogdanovic was miraculous, leading the Serbians with 20 points. Durant defended him for most of the fourth quarter and locked him up a few times to cool him off. Serbia’s undoing was an offense not primarily centered around Jokic and the two-man actions with point guard Vasilije Micic were handcuffed by Booker on multiple possessions as well. Jokic ended up with 17 points, five rebounds and 11 assists.
Serbia’s hot shooting continued in only the third quarter, as it failed to knock down a 3 in the final period after notching 15 in the opening 30 minutes.
The United States closed with Curry, Booker, James, Durant and Embiid during the rally, which has to be the 5 we will see start on Saturday.
