After trailing by as much as 17 points, the United States of America men’s basketball team put on an inspired late comeback to knock off Serbia and advance to the gold medal game with a 95-91 victory.
Facing a 13 point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, the Americans came back to tie the contest and then took the lead with a dominant performance in the final period to pull out the victory.
Steph Curry led the way for the United States with 36 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.
It was a 19 point night from Joel Embiid and a 16 point effort from LeBron James- with James also nabbing eight rebounds and seven assists.
Down eight in the fourth quarter, Devin Booker hit a deep three to cut the deficit to five with a little over seven minutes to go.
Kevin Durant and LeBron James celebrate a basket in the United States’ win over Serbia
Back and forth the game went until Embiid was fouled as hit hit a basket, converting the and-one to make it a four point game with exactly five minutes remaining.
Embiid would answer the call again – drilling a fadeaway jumper to make it a two point game with 4:22 to go.
James drove the lane and tied the game with a tidy layup to complete the comeback with plenty of time remaining.
The game remained close, but a late jump shot from Kevin Durant and a pair of free throws from Curry sealed the deal.
All told, the United States went from trailing in each of the first three quarters to out-scoring Serbia 31-15 in the fourth to pull out the victory.
Serbia was led by Bogdan Bogdanovic – who put up 20 points, four rebounds, and three assists.
Nikola Jokic put up a 17 point, five rebound, eleven assist night to finish as the second-leading scorer – with Aleksa Avramovic dropping 15 points.
The United States will play France in the gold medal match as the Americans hope to win a fifth straight Olympic title on Saturday.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk