The U.S. men's basketball team wins a nail-biter over Serbia to play for Olympic gold

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PARIS — In Steph Curry's first trip to the Olympic Games, he was not going to be denied a chance to play for a gold medal.

For nearly all of Thursday's semifinal game against Serbia, the U.S. lagged behind its opponent, Serbia. Besides Curry, who hit nine three-pointers and led all scorers with 36 points, Team USA's collection of future Hall of Famers mostly struggled to find the basket.

Even as the fourth quarter began, the U.S. trailed by 13.

But then Team USA began to do Team USA things: A Kevin Durant three-pointer amid a collision of bodies, followed one second later by another three, this one from Devin Booker. A determined LeBron James layup. Three back-to-back-to-back shots by center Joel Embiid amid boos from the crowd of 12,213 in Paris' Bercy Arena.

And finally — who else — a Curry three-pointer from the top of the key to reclaim the lead. The U.S. held on until the buzzer for a 95-91 win.

"Hopefully we have another win on Saturday, and you can look back on this game as the one that challenged us and tested us, and the one you'll remember," Curry told reporters after the game.

Thursday's game was the third time in the past month that the U.S. had faced Serbia, led by the Denver Nuggets All-Star Nikola Jokic. The previous two times the U.S. had won easily: first 105-79 in an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi, then a 110-84 victory in Olympic group play.

But on Saturday, Serbia played "the perfect game," Team USA head coach Steve Kerr said afterward. "I'm really humbled to have been a part of this game. It was one of the greatest basketball games I've ever been a part of," he said.

For more than 33 minutes straight in the 40-minute game, Serbia led, beginning with a three-pointer from Bogdan Bogdanovic, another NBA veteran, that put Serbia on top 16-15 with 5:49 remaining in the first quarter. They did not relinquish that lead until only 2:24 remained in the game.

"Over 40 minutes, I think our talent wore them down," Kerr said. "We always feel like we have the deepest team. We have the most great players. The other countries, they all have great players now. But we have the most great players. And we feel confident that over 40 minutes, it'll play itself out. But it was dicey for most of the night."

Even as Serbia built and clung to its lead — at its largest, a 17-point gap in the second quarter — there never was a panic among Team USA, Curry said. At halftime, he added, the mood in the locker room was "eerily calm."

"We know what we need to do, and you just keep telling yourself that until the final moment," he said. "That's what basketball is."

Team USA's victory sets up a rematch of the gold medal game from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, in which the U.S. beat France. Much of that French team has turned over since, and it now features Victor Wembanyama, the 20-year-old phenom for the San Antonio Spurs whose 7-foot-4 frame and fluidity with the ball made him the most coveted prospect in a generation. Last year, in his rookie NBA season, he lived up to the hype, leading the league in blocks and unanimously winning Rookie of the Year.

France earned its berth in the gold medal match with an 73-69 win over Germany in its semifinal earlier Thursday. France has won three Olympic silver medals, but it has never won gold. (The U.S. has won all but one gold medal since 1992, the first year that professionals were allowed to participate. The only exception was in 2004, when Argentina won gold and the U.S. settled for bronze.)

"It'll be a tough test, especially in here. They're playing with confidence," said Durant, who scored nine points. "We got our work cut out for us, especially in here. It's going to be the loudest it's ever been."

In a preview of what is sure to be a pro-France crowd on Saturday, Embiid was showered with boos every time he touched the ball, as he has been throughout these Olympics after he rejected an offer last year to play for the French national team.

Embiid, who was born in Cameroon and holds French citizenship, recently told the New York Times Magazine that his decision had been influenced by poor relations between France and Cameroon, which was governed by France before its independence in 1960. (Cameroon's team did not qualify for the Olympics.)

"I still got my family living in Cameroon, and I don’t want to put them through any of that stuff," Embiid said. "I want them to be safe, and the relationship between France and Cameroon or Africa in general is just not good."

On Thursday, Embiid scored 19 points. And he said he welcomes the jeers — and the gold medal match against France. "I'm not going to sit here and say that I don't love France. I do love France," Embiid told reporters. "The banter against the fans — that's love and respect. I'll take anything they give me."