PARIS (France) - It does not get any better than this! Serbia and the United States fought for 40 minutes, and with the game on the line, the biggest of stars had to make the toughest of shots to see the United States through to the Final.
The scoreboard said 95-91 at the end of the game. Serbia now move to the Third-Place Game with Germany, while the United States play the Final against France, same as in Tokyo three years ago.
Turning point
A true masterpiece of a game, Serbia showed that they were hiding their hand in their exhibition game in Abu Dhabi, as well as the first matchup at the Paris Olympics.
When they showed up in the Semi-Finals, their defense was incredible, mixing a lot of zone with matchup zone and man-to-man, provoking multiple errors by the USA offense.
With Aleksa Avramovic going crazy offensively and scoring 15 first half points, Serbia opened up a 17-point lead, even with Steph Curry scoring 20 points before the break!
When USA made their big run to make it back to -6 late in the third quarter, up stepped Marko Guduric with six straight points, including a four-point game to make it 76-63 after three.
But this USA team does not go away. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and Steph Curry inspired a comeback, tying a game at 84-all with 3:39 to play, setting up the stage for a hurricane of a finish.
Curry's 9th three-pointer of the game gave them their first lead since the middle point of the first quarter, before LeBron James and Steph Curry both ran out in transition to make it 91-86 with just under two minutes left.
Serbia had one more comeback in them, too. Bogdan Bogdanovic got an and-one to drop and cut the deficit to -2 with 56.4 left in the game.
Coach Steve Kerr gave the ball to Kevin Durant, who hit a long two-pointer which turned out to be the dagger shot.
Game hero
We waited a long time for a true Steph Curry game. He delivered when it mattered most, finishing with 36 points on 9-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc.
Stats don't lie
Not a lot of teams can win when the United States make 16-of-32 from the three-point range.
Bottom line
Serbia now must recover from this heartbreak and face an early morning game on Saturday against the reigning World Champions Germany to finish the Olympics on podium.
Nikola Jokic played 38 minutes and finished with 17 points, 11 assists and 5 rebounds, Bogdan Bogdanovic counted to 20, Avramovic stayed at 15 for coach Svetislav Pesic.
USA, meanwhile, are up against the 13,000 fans at the Bercy Arena as they take on France in the championship game.
LeBron James had another game to remember, becoming the first man with two Olympic triple-doubles, collecting 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Joel Embiid was big down the stretch and had 19 points.
They said
It's good to be tested - LeBron
"I was trying to be aggressive, make plays for our team, try to do a little bit of everything on the floor and my teammates believed in me. It's good to be tested. It's great to be tested. And our ultimate goal is one game away, so we're looking forward to the game on Saturday." - LeBron James, USA
"I mean, it's up there. I'm 39 years old, I'm on to my 22nd season, I don't know how many opportunities and moments I'm gonna get like this to compete in big games, and tonight was a big game for us." - LeBron on his triple-double
You gotta give credit to them - Steph
"Once you have life on defense, it usually fuels your offense. You get stops, and the game starts to connect. They came out and hit some amazingly tough shots in the first half, and you gotta give credit to them, they are a really good team, and it's hard to beat a team three times." - Steph Curry, USA
"To come back the way we did... I've seen a lot of Team USA basketball, and that was a special one." - Curry again
"I haven't had many opportunities, and haven't shot the ball well the whole tournament. But it doesn't waver your confidence to meet the moment, and I had some great looks to start the game. Knocked them down, kept the rhythm flowing, and the one in the fourth quarter - Joel set a great screen, thankfully they didn't call that flop because it was bad, and knocking down a big shot like that, we live for those moments. It doesn't matter if you shoot three times or how many I shot tonight, as long as you stay confident." - Curry on his big three down the stretch
"I shot three times last game, and I wasn't looking to force it, because that's not what the game called for. That's the beauty of Team USA and FIBA and this whole experience. Every game it's been somebody different." - Steph on USA's depth
I'm proud of everything we've done - Coach Pesic
"Of course I'm proud how we played, especially after the game against Australia, where we came back from -24, but that costs us a lot of strength. But you saw how tough mentally we were, we made it all the way until the end and one ball or two balls decided the game. In Serbia, we usually say, those who lose have the right to be angry. I'm not angry at all, I'm proud of everything we've done." - Serbia head coach Svetislav Pesic
I was probably not as calm as I pretended to be - Coach Kerr
"We knew coming into this tournament that there's always going to be a game like this. It's the Olympics, FIBA, 40 minutes... One game and you're out. So you're not gonna blaze through this tournament, we knew that, I have that experience from Tokyo when I was an assistant. You have to be able to maintain your poise, and that's what impressed me the most in the second half, just the poise of our guys, combined with the competitive spirit to get it done." - coach Kerr
Quick notes
USA reached the gold medal game at the Olympics for the 17th time, 12 more than anybody else (Soviet Union 5)
This was USA's smallest margin of win in the Semi-Finals since 2000 (Lithuania, 85-83)
In total, USA led for just 3:25 of the game
LeBron James posted the fourth triple-double in Olympics history, after Sasha Belov in 1976, himself in 2012 and Luka Doncic in 2021
Steph's nine threes are the most by a player since Carmelo Anthony had nine against Australia in 2016
Steph's 36 points are the second best mark by a USA player at the Olympics, trailing only Carmelo Anthony's 37-point performance against Nigeria in 2012
Nikola Jokic became the first player to get double-doubles in four consecutive games at the Olympics since Detlef Schrempf and Arvydas Sabonis pulled it off in 1992
FIBA