USA Basketball had some close calls in their exhibition slate as they narrowly beat out South Sudan and Germany, though they did enough in crunch time in both contests.
When the games started to count during the 2024 Olympics, though, Team USA looked by far and away like favorite to win the gold as they steamrolled the competition to make their way to the semifinals. However, the Americans finally found themselves in deep trouble as they feel behind by double-digits to Serbia in the first half and entered the fourth quarter with a 13-point deficit.
In their toughest quarter to date, Team USA was able to muster up enough energy on both ends of the floor to erase Serbia’s lead and ultimately prevail with a victory. USA Basketball will now face off against host country France in the final game of the 2024 Olympics for the gold.
Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid both rose to the occasion in the pivotal semifinals matchup against Serbia and Anthony Davis shouted them out after their clutch performances via Marc J. Spears of Andscape:
Anthony Davis: “Got two words. Stephen Curry. Joel Embiid.”
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) August 8, 2024
Like Davis, LeBron James also credited Curry and Embiid for carrying Team USA to a win over Serbia. Curry had been due for an explosive scoring outing and he delivered when the Americans needed him most as he dropped a game-high 36 points, sinking nine 3-pointers in the process.
On the flip side, Embiid had his best game of the tournament as he finally delivered on the offensive end after a tough stretch of games. Embiid scored 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field to go along with four rebounds and two assists. More importantly, he did his job defensively on Nikola Jokic who ended the game with just 17 points.
Both Curry and Embiid have drawn criticism for the lackluster play, but they shut down any doubters with their game against Serbia. While Team USA can feel good about moving on, they can’t let their guard down against a highly-motivated French team looking for the upset on their home floor.
Hailey Van Lith credited Kobe Bryant’s ‘Mamba Mentality’ after USA Basketball’s 3×3 bronze medal finish
Like the men’s national team, USA Basketball’s women’s 3×3 team needed to dig deep to medal. Hailey Van Lith said that her and the team kept fighting and referenced Kobe Bryant’s ‘Mamba Mentality’ for helping them get over the hump.
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